Burning Curve
by ianna28
Summary: SEQUEL TO WARPED CURVE The Starks are getting a taste of what normal feels like. Anders is poised to take over the company, Tony is going back to inventing, and even Clint and Lee get a vacation. Until someone from their previous adventures comes with their personal vendetta, one that affects even Captain America. SLASH Mpreg FrostIron AU
1. Chapter 1

**A****/N: I waste no time! Bwuahaha!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony raised an eyebrow at the pamphlet in his lap, then up at the utterly pitiful face in front of him. One of his now twelve year old sons had learned how to perfect the wide eyes and down-turned lips. Tony knew that if he glanced over he'd see that Sander was giving Loki the same look. "You both want to go to a summer camp?" They both nodded. "But to different ones?" Another nod. "You know, you two do everything together, and now you want to separate?"

"It's only for 8 weeks," Sander said and Tony looked over at him. Tony was looking at the pamphlet of the camp that Tomas wanted to go to, oddly enough it looked like a version of space camp. It didn't surprise him, considering on several occasions Tomas like to go up with Kasir to Asgard and would stay with Iria and Heimdall, looking out at the realms from the bi-frost.

"And they're even in the same state, and they start on the same day." Loki held up the pamphlet for Tony to see. It looked like camp for aspiring Veterinarians. They knew the boys would eventually show their differences, but he hadn't expected the vast differences between them.

"It's open to High school Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors, of which we are," Sander continued. "It doesn't say anything about age, so we qualify."

"Too smart for your own good," Tony mumbled. "Did you two finish your homework?" They both nodded. "Have JARVIS double check your references?" Another two nods. "Alright, go finish your chores, we'll talk this over." They both ran out to the kitchen. "They are the two most obedient children we've ever had," Tony said as he looked back down at the little packet.

"Even more so, now that they want something." Tony snorted a little. "It doesn't sound like a terrible idea," Loki admitted.

"The appealing part is having them out of the house for 8 weeks, right?" Tony smirked as Loki didn't say anything. "Eindride and I will be plenty busy during those first two weeks anyway, so it would be nice for them not to deal with all the press that will no doubt be around." Eindride had taken more of an interest in Stark Industries after things had calmed down six years ago, and was now going to take over as CEO. Tony was thrilled that one of his kids had voluntarily wanted the position, and was happy that he could go back to his position as head of R&D. They were going to announce the change in the summer, and were just going through the motions of making everything legal.

"We'll secure their positions in the programs?" Loki looked at Tony as he laid his head in Loki's lap. The younger man nodded. "And how long do we make them think that we haven't' decided yet?"

"I'd say about two weeks." Tony grinned.

Loki snorted a little and let his finger card through Tony's hair. "Where is our older son anyway?"

"He went to bed early," Tony told him as he grabbed both pamphlets. "He's been living in a different time zone downstairs lately, having a lot of meeting with our Asian headquarter's. He's been eating lunch when we eat breakfast."

"Is he still putting off finding an assistant?" Loki hummed a little when Tony's fingers fond his knee.

"He's the perfect mix of both of us, and that includes an increased stubbornness." Loki rolled his eyes a little. "He's going to need one before he becomes CEO though, so I've set up some meetings for two days for now. They'll come here." Tony smiled.

"And have you told him yet?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Have I mentioned, how much I love your accent?" Tony smiled and Loki rolled his eyes.

"I shall endeavor to find something to do in two days," Loki informed him. "I think I'll go visit with Emma on Jotumheim. That way I won't have to fix whatever injuries Eindride gives you."

"You have no faith in me do you?"

"Not at this particular moment. Eeyah!" Loki jumped a little when Tony pinched his side. 

* * *

Eindride took a deep breath as he turned in the bed. He needed more sleep, specially after getting off of a four hour meeting with their Tokyo Board. He shivered a little when he felt something at his back and frowned. Sitting up a little in the bed he turned and reached out with his powers. Nothing.

He stumbled a little when his feet were suddenly on the ground. Eindride swallowed and tried to reach out with his magic again. Still nothing, only this time there was literally nothing around him. The energies hadn't pinged off of anything. A hand suddenly started to slide up his shoulder from behind and he tensed. The fingers gripped his shoulders, nails digging into his skin. A sudden burning started in his stomach and he gasped. It raced through his veins and he arched his back in pain, the hand on his shoulder burning. He screamed when it felt like his skin was sliding off of his body.

Eindride shot up in his bed, panting heavily, feeling too warm. He was vaguely aware of noises around him, but he couldn't make them out, too focused on trying to stop his arms stop shaking. There was a sudden rush of cool air on his skin and he was flinching back and away, almost falling off the bed, when someone reached for his arm.

"-ers? Anders, hey, can you hear me?" Eindride turned his head when he heard Tony's voice calling him. His tone was, worried? He nodded once and licked his lips. "Okay good. Alright, I'm over this way, and your dad is next to me. Lya is on the other side of the bed, she wants to check on you."

Eindride extended his hand a little and felt Lya's cold nose push into his palm. He took a breath as his own started to return to normal. "I'm okay." His voice lacked the confidence he thought it would have. "It was just a dream."

"A dream that had you screaming?" Loki frowned as he watched their son.

"What happened? JARVIS couldn't wake you up, even Lya was barking to try and get you up." Tony had grabbed the edge of the sheets to wipe off Eindride's forehead.

"I'm not exactly sure," he shrugged. "Maybe it's just from changing my sleep schedule too much." He knew that neither of his parents would accept that as an excuse, but he didn't want to talk about his dream yet. "Starting to feel some of the stress. It'll probably go away now that I'm done with the meetings for now." He could practically feel Loki's eyes on him, but focused on petting Lya.

What Eindride didn't want to tell him was that he knew what the pain in the dream felt like, he knew what it was from. He didn't want to tell yet, not until he figured out why he was dreaming about it suddenly.


	2. Chapter 2

**A****/N: I waste no time! Bwuahaha!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"You're insufferable sometimes, you know that right?" Eindride muttered to Tony as he let his fingers glide over the next resume.

"You need a PA," Tony said, leaning back in his chair. They had been through their fifth interview and no one was really popping out to him. He had found Pepper on a fluke when he was younger. "I needed one, sometimes I feel like I still do."

"You ended naming your personal assistant CEO," Eindride shot back.

"Circumstances were, awkward, to say the least." Tony winced a little at his own excuse and even Eindride raised an eyebrow at him. "Whatever, times are different. You need one, so let's try and suffer through the last couple interviews-"

"Suffer sounds about right." Eindride let out a sigh before he paid attention to the resume in front of him again. He heard the door open to the study they were in and heard the footsteps of someone in a small heel. Eindride's pad changed a little under his fingers as Tony typed something on his own.

"Good morning, gentlemen," the woman said as she walked in. Eindride noted that her voice was definitely more pleasant than the others so far. "I supposed I could say good afternoon, it is getting late in the day." She reached over to shake Tony's hand then Eindride's. When he gripped her hand he suddenly let go and offered his other hand. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You're left handed, right?" Eindride asked as she shook his hand.

"I am," she agreed.

"How did you know that?" Tony asked as the woman sat down.

"The grip felt awkward," Eindride said shrugging a little. "You didn't sound very surprised that I figured that out Miss Hope."

"Elpis," she smiled. "And no, I wasn't. I've worked with the blind before, so I had an inkling you might know that I was left handed." Eindride nodded a little. Maybe this interview wouldn't be as bad as he thought, she already sounded about twice as smart as the previous candidates.

"How long have you worked with other blind clients?" Tony asked, taking a glance at her resume, typing a few things on his pad.

"For a while," she smiled. "I was very young when I started to learn braille. A family friend was blind so he helped me learn, and I in turn helped him in everyday activities."

"So you'd say that you're fairly proficient in Braille?" She nodded to Tony. Eindride's hand was swiping over his own pad.

"Enough to know that you're telling your son that I'm smart and sexy." She grinned as Tony coughed. "I can read Braille upside down."

Eindride let out a laugh and smiled. "Oh, I like her."

"You would," Tony mumbled.

"If I may, I have a question," Elpis crossed her legs at the knee. "I read the requirements and the general description of what's expected, but that was when the client was kept confidential. So, what I'm wondering is what are the updated requirements of the job now? I'm fairly certain that work with Stark is a little different than anyone else I've worked with."

Tony tried not to snort a little. "Long hours, probably not as long as my assistant used to put in though, putting up with the press and board members, not seeing your apartment very much," Tony started to list off. "There would probably be a room set aside for you on long nights, and of course when traveling. Lots of traveling," he added.

"And being able to put up with my immediate and extended family," Eindride threw in, leaning against the back of his chair. He had a good feeling about this. Something he didn't think he'd have when these interviews started.

"I've handled many different personalities before," Elpis said, smiling.

"If offered the position, when would you be able to start?" Tony asked, tablet resting against his leg.

"I suppose as soon as I found an apartment to hold the things I would probably never see." Eindride snorted and smirked a little. "I don't actually live here,"

"We could offer one of the apartments here in the Tower," Eindride said and Tony looked over, raised an eyebrow.

"Is this your sly way of offering me the position, Mr Stark?" She asked, one corner of her lips turned up.

Eindride faced Tony. "Do I have to do it the official way?"

"You mean follow the rules?" Tony asked and both men let out a huff. "So, what floor do you want to live on? Do you have a preference of closer to the ground or not?"

"I actually prefer being higher up," she informed them.

"Fantastic." Tony clapped his hands together. "We can put you on the same floor that Anders has been frequenting actually. Seems to make sense."

"As soon as you're able to ship your stuff here we can get you all the official stuff, like security clearance and badges," Eindride said as he leaned over his tablet, entering some information. "We'll have to get you caught up on what's going to happen, prepare you honestly."

"Are you preparing to release a new product?" Elpis asked. She was sitting on the edge of her seat, a smile on her face, excited. "I couldn't help but notice how the stocks in the Japanese market have gone up in the past two days."

"I stand by my statement of smart and sexy," Tony said looking at Eindride. "I think we should have her meet-"

"No," Eindride interrupted him. "She was literally just given the job, let's not mentally scar her." Elpis raised an eyebrow.

"Now would be the perfect time, give her the chance to quit before we get security clearance," tony argued. Eindride let out a sigh and Tony grinned. "JARVIS?"

"I have already informed him, sir," the AI answered. Tony noted how Elpis didn't look up like everyone else always did when JARVIS spoke.

"You are a blessed Saint, J," Tony grinned. "Perhaps we should go out to lunch after this, I'm actually starved and feel like eating."

"Now there's a change," Loki said as he entered the room from the back. Elpis stood up and turned to face him, a smile on her face, hand extended out. "You've actually found one then?" He looked the woman up and down, not accepting her hand. He wanted to see how she would handle it.

"I'm assuming you mean the position of the Personal Assistant that Mr Stark has never had?" She asked, pulling her hand back to to clasp her other hand, resting in front of her. The motion was so natural that one would have forgotten that she had offered her hand in the first place. "Yes, the have just offered me the position, Mr Odinson."

"She's at least well read," the god smiled a little. "Most would address me as Stark."

"Those would be the same who would assume that names were exchanged when you two wed," she answered, never breaking eye contact. "I don't honestly see you as the type take on a different name after so long." Loki hummed a little and nodded.

"Yes, I approve." He looked over at the grinning Tony and his son who was just shaking his head. "Now, there was an offer of lunch? I'm craving something sweet."

"Yes! I agree." Tony stood up. "Why don't you give her the tour of the buttons on the elevator while I talk some quick shop with the kid." Loki rolled his eyes slightly at Tony before offering his arm to Elpis.

"Elpis Hope," she supplied as she looped her arm with his, walking with him out of the room.

"Interesting name," Loki said, actually interested.

"What did you want to talk about?" Eindride frowned a little when he heard the door shut. He was already putting his tablet to sleep and slipping it back into it's case.

"You have to see her," Tony said, turning to face Eindride.

"I don't have to see every person I talk to, you know," Eindride sighed a little as he slipped his arms into the blazer jacket on the back of the chair.

"This one you do," Tony insisted. "Listen, I'll mix up every one we've seen, and you see if you can figure out who Elpis is." Tony's knee was nudging Eindride.

"Fiiiine," Eindride begrudgingly gave in. He put one hand out, palm facing up. When Tony placed his own hand on top he took a breath as he felt the memories Tony directed him too. Eindride saw flashes of several woman and a couple of men, and he knew Tony was doing that for the hell of it. He squeezed Tony's hand to stop suddenly on a woman who was smiling at him. She had long fiery red hair that had been braided into a fishtail braid over her shoulder, with long bangs brushed to one side. She was wearing white trousers that seemed to be hemmed to just the right height to show the small heeled pair of white shoes speckled with red and orange gems. A matching white blazer was buttoned over a high collared soft red shirt. Eindride was more drawn to her eyes though, how they seemed to sparkle a dark blue-purple, both with a mote of off-white.

Eindride pulled back and took a deep breath. "Well," he started, a little out of breath, "she certainly is colorful." Tony laughed and helped him stand from the chair. "She seemed to handle Dad quite well. There wasn't even a waver in her voice."

"Yeah, he looped pretty impressed. Although, you seemed to take to her pretty fast yourself," Tony said as they left the room, headed for the elevator. "You know, for someone who didn't want an assistant in the first place."

"Well, it might be useful," Eindride said shrugging. "It could work out since I'm sure I'll be getting more stress when we make the announcement." He heard the elevator door open and they stepped in, taking it down to the car park. "Tell her in two weeks what will be coming?" Eindride suggested.

"Sure, unless you think she can handle it sooner," Tony told him. "She's your Pepper now." Eindride snorted a little.

The doors opened and they stepped off and Eindride could sense Loki's magic just outside of the elevator cart. There was the slight displacement of air next to his arm and he realized that it was Elpis silently offering her arm if he wanted to take it. She wasn't asking out loud, and she wasn't going to make him ask for the assistant if he needed it. He let the corner of his mouth turn up a little as he put his hand on her arm, following Loki and Tony to the car. This could work out better than he had anticipated.

Loki glanced at Tony, giving him a look that told him not to let the smugness show through his expression. Tony's look answered that he made no promises. Loki sighed out loud.


	3. Chapter 3

**A****/N: I waste no time! Bwuahaha!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride slumped a little in the car when he heard Elpis shut the door to the back. "Might I suggest some tea?" Eindride raised an eyebrow when she spoke. "To help you sleep at night." Elpis had been with him for a two weeks now and she had seamlessly worked her way into his work life. They lived on the same floor, but they managed to not really bump into each other, still keeping their personal lives separate.

Eindride gingerly rubbed under one of his eyes. "I find it unfair that I can develop bags under my eyes when I'm blind."

"Yes, sadly the skin and the muscles around your eyes still work perfectly fine," she smiled a little as she spoke. "It's your receptors that have failed you. I have a family tea that helps with sleeping if you'd like." He heard tapping around on her Starkpad for a second. Eindride had been surprised, and pleased, that she actually used the Braille function on her tablet, putting all her notes and messages in the raised language. She had told him that she preferred translating it herself rather than having a program do it, and it made it easier for him as well. "You only have one meeting tomorrow, and we can reschedule that easily if you'd like to take a late day, or even the whole day off. You've been pulling some early mornings."

"But it never seems that I can be ready before you in the morning," Eindride said, hearing her chuckle a little. "I suppose it can't hurt to try the tea."

"I'll bring some over for you to drink with dinner. It won't make you sleepy right away, so it's best to drink it with your meal," she told him. Eindride nodded a little and he felt the telltale bump of the car arriving into the parking garage of the Tower. He waited for Elpis to get out first before following her, both heading for the elevator.

Eindride frowned a little when the elevator didn't stop at their floor, but instead kept going up two more flights. "JARVIS?"

"Your presence has been requested as soon as you arrived home, sir," the AI told him as the doors opened. "No exceptions." Eindride let out a little side and took Elpis's arm. He was too tired to try and guess where his parents wanted him to go so he let the woman guide him.

There was a warm laugh and Eindride blinked a little as they entered the living room. "There he is!" He heard Tomas exclaim. "Told you he wouldn't work late tonight."

"Hi Elpis," Sander said when his brother failed to greet her as well.

Elpis smiled at the twins. "Hi Sander, Tomas, get into trouble yet?"

"Not when Nana is around," Sander said, shaking his head. That when Elpis noticed the woman on the couch. Their eyes met and she gave one shake of her head. "Nana, that's Elpis, Ander's work assistant."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Eir said as she kept eye contact with her. "I'm glad to see that Eindride has actually accepted the help."

Eindride let out a little groan as he sat on the couch next to Eir. "You sound like Dad. Both of them." He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "What brings you down here for a visit?"

"My son actually asked me to come down here," she said, glancing over when Elpis moved to sit on the arm of the couch. "Said there was some kind of special announcement."

"Perhaps I should head down to my place," Elpis said, starting to get up.

"Nonsense," Tony called out as he walked into the room. Eir smiled at him and kissed his cheek when he walked over. "You're probably going to need know about this anyway, might as well now." Tony was grinning. "My dear sweet husband would be here as well, but he recent sweet tooth is turning on him."

"He has been indulging a little more than usual," Eindride commented, nodding. "But it doesn't seem like him to get sick from it."

"That's because he's three months pregnant." Tony grinned as Eindride's eyes widened and Elpis almost slipped off of the arm of the couch. Tomas, Sander and Eir matched Tony's grin. "Oh, you two smile now," he said looking at the twins, "but you've never seen your Dad when he's grumpy because there's a baby kicking his kidney." They both blinked a little as they thought about it. "Guess it's a good thing you two will be in sumer camp to- ACK!" Tony was tackled to the ground by Tomas and Sander and even Eir let out a snort of laughter.

"I thought your dad was a genius," Elpis mock whispered to Eindride.

"That doesn't actually apply to logical thinking," Eindride answered and Elpis just nodded. 

* * *

Eindride's lips moved in a near silent spell as he felt the heat starting to curl in his stomach again. His magic was moving in constant waves around him, like a radar, searching the hand that would no doubt come. He could stop it this time, he had to stop it.

Eindride took a breath and glanced up with the burning stopped, but when he looked up he could see the room he was in. It was an office, one that had haunted more than a few of his dreams six years ago. He was in the last place that he had seen before he lost his sight. Turning around he saw the cabinet that he had used to get himself and Chris back to the others, but it was closed this time.

He whipped around when he heard something slide against the floor and frowned. The room was dimly lit but it was empty of any other furniture. He moved to turn when his a hand slid across his shoulder again. He reached to grab when another hand suddenly covered his eyes and pressed down, burning his eyes and skin with a spell, again.

The hand was pulled away and he was aware that something holding onto his arms gently. There was a lingering ache on his eyes as he tried to think. He was lying down, in a bed, and he was panting heavily. A wet nose was on his arm and someone was trying to talk to him.

"Eindride? Are you with me?" Elpis? "Are you awake now?" He took a deep breath and nodded a couple times. "Good, now focus on my voice, I want you to take breaths in through your nose and out through mouth when I say. You're starting to hyperventilate. Do you understand?" He nodded again. His chest hurt and he vaguely thought that it was because he was breathing so harshly. "Good boy. Okay, long breath in through your nose," she waited for him to take it. "And out through your mouth. In, for a few seconds, and then out." Elpis helped him repeat it several more times before he was able to control his breathing.

"Thanks," he said quietly as he sat up a little. He reached out to scratched Lya's ear and cross his legs. "What time is it?"

"Only three in the morning," Elpis said, trying to cover a yawn. "I say only, but I don't think that either of us is going back to sleep."

"I didn't mean to wake you," he tried to apologize, but felt the vibration of her shaking her head through the hand that was still on his arm.

"It's okay. Lya came and got me, and I'm glad she did." She sat down at the edge of the bed, reaching over to pet Lya as well. "No need for you to be stuck in that nightmare anymore than you were." Eindride knew he had been screaming again, but was glad that she didn't mention it.

"Next month is going to be a circus," Eindride said after a few moments of silence. "I wanted to wait and tell you what was going to happen, to see how you handled the job. My Dad is stepping down, again, as CEO and I'm taking over."

Elpis blinked a little and looked at him. "I don't think Circus explains what next month is going to be. Chaos? That sounds better." Eindride snorted, smiling softly. "Well, I hope that this job is fulfilling, cause I'll never be able to top PA for the CEO of Stark Industries on my resume. They'll think I'm over qualified."

Loki and Eir watched the two on the screen as they both sat in the kitchen. "You're sure you know her?" Loki glanced over at the Valkyrie who nodded. He couldn't help but munch on the pretzel sticks he had procured before JARVIS had alerted him that Eindride was having another nightmare.

"I'm positive," she nodded. "We've run into each other a couple of times in the past." Loki twitched his nose a little as he looked back at the woman. "I'm almost surprised that you didn't pick up that she wasn't human."

"Pregnancy makes me miss things," Loki admitted unhappily. "Do I have to worry about her?"

Eir shook her head. "No, of that I'm certain. If she's here it's for a reason."

"A reason that she knows, or the Norns playing a game?" Eir gave him a look. "Of course, the Norns must Love watching us. What is she?"

The Valkyrie smiled. "I'm going to let you figure that out on your own. It's her secret to tell, not mine." She pat his arm. "At least you don't have to worry about hiding all of the weirder parts of this family from her now." Loki snorted. 

* * *

Chris Rogers turned in his bed, frowning in his sleep, waking up Alex next to him. It took a second for Alex to get his bearings before realizing that Chris was dreaming, having a nightmare. He wrapped an arm around his waist and started to rub one of his arms with his other hand. "Hey, Chris, wake up. It's just a dream, you can wake up."

It took a little more coaxing but Chris's eyes shot open and he gasped for breath a little. His hand found Alex's and he gripped it tightly. Alex kissed his cheek as he held onto him. "What happened, babe? Are you okay?"

Chris swallowed a little and took a breath. "I don't know. I was back in an office, the place from six years ago." Alex frowned a little. "I haven't dreamed about that place in years." Alex kissed shoulder as his thumb rubbed his upper arm. "I think I'm gonna go see Anders later this week."

"You'd plan to go see your parents too," Alex murmured, voice sleepy. "If they hear you're back in town and you didn't stop to see them-" Chris nodded a little. "Your mom can be scary I think is what I'm getting at."

"Maybe I'll wait until we get the decision." Alex smiled against Chris's shoulder. "Maybe I can go with some good news for everyone."

"I like your optimism."

"You like a whole lot more than that." Chris smiled softly. It didn't take long for Alex to fall back asleep, still holding onto Chris, but the younger man wasn't going to be able to sleep again that night. He couldn't stop thinking about his cousin.


	4. Chapter 4

**A****/N: I waste no time! Bwuahaha!**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride huffed, trying to fight back the burning in his gut once again. His eyes were screw shut tightly as he hunched over in pain. His body was tense, he knew the hand would be coming again, tearing at his skin, burning at his eyes, over and over.

A warmth start in his hand, a different warmth though. This one didn't hurt. He thought he heard humming as the warmth spread up slowly through his arm. He tried to fight it, didn't want it coming in contact with the fire that was trying to ignite his body. It didn't stop moving, no matter how much he tried to stop it, but suddenly the burning wasn't as bad.

Eindride looked down at his hand and saw that it was turning blue. A chill suddenly waved through his body, not unpleasant and the warmth he felt before tingled. The humming never stopped. When Eindride looked around he wasn't in the office anymore, there was nothing around him.

He slowly woke up, blinking when he was still in his bed, the sheets were still around him, and he wasn't drenched in sweat. It was a dream that he could get used to for once. And he did for almost two months. 

* * *

Steve frowned a little as he sat on the couch, book open in his hands, Gabby's head in his lap, her own book in her hands. "You're getting that look again," she said, glancing her eyes to him.

"I don't like where this ending is going," Steve commented as he turned a page. He was less than a dozen pages to the end. "I have a feeling that it's going to end in a cliffhanger." Gabby snorted a little and smiled. She went back to her book and continued reading.

Bryanna was out with her best friend, hunting for apartments in Ohio that would be close to the College they would be attending in the fall. Andrew had followed suit with Tomas and Sander and had signed up for a summer camp, only this one was more adventure than academic. Gabby didn't have any summer classes to teach and the couple had an empty house and no work to do.

Twenty minutes later Steve let out a yell and shut the book, letting his head drop on the back of the couch. Gabby leaned up a little and ran her hand through his shorter hair. "This is what you get for starting a series, darling."

"Not every book has to end in a cliffhanger though," he pouted a little.

"You're lucky it's a series though," Gabby told him as she shifted, putting a bookmark in her own book. "Because, if it wasn't and it ended like that it would haunt you for the rest of your days."

"Authors are evil." Gabby snorted and kissed him before getting up. She turned the corner of the couch and let out a yelp when she bumped into a body, hands grabbing her arms. Steve had jumped up from the couch then blinked.

"You scared me!" Gabby breathed out and punched Chris's shoulder as he laughed. "Are you Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"No," Chris coughed a little to get rid of his laughs, but still smiled. "But as a Cardiologist, I feel like you would be in good hands if you did."

"Such a smart ass." Gabby kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "What are you doing here? Baltimore not exciting enough for you right now?"

"Compared to what happens with this family?" Steve said as he walked over and gave Chris a one armed hug. "I'm sure Baltimore must be positively boring."

"It's the perfect amount of excitement for me," Chris assured them. "I'm actually off for a week, and I was going to visit Anders. Then Alex and I got some good news so I wanted to put together a last minute family lunch slash dinner type thing." Both Steve and Gabby raised an eyebrow. "It's good news, I promise, but it's one of those things that I just want to tell everyone at once. Think that can happen today?"

"I'm sure Clint and Lee are around," Steve said, nodding. "Bry is in Columbus right now, though. I know that Tony and Eindride will be home, as will Loki."

"It'll be a small gathering," Gabby shrugged a little. "Everyone else apparently has summer plans. Like normal people."

"Blasphemous," Chris chuckled. "Normal lives just don't happen in this family."

"Bite your tongue," Gabby pointed and Chris grinned. "And this man saves peoples lives." 

* * *

Tony just stared at Loki as he held up two ties. "I really don't have to wear a tie tomorrow you know. I usually don't wear them."

"You're going to wear a tie, because Elpis and I have decided that both you and Eindride will be wearing them," Loki said without looking at him. Tony was standing with a button down and dark blue blazer on, black sweatpants on underneath. To make Loki feel more comfortable about he growing waistline, again, Tony often wore sweatpants or jogging pants when he wasn't working..

"For someone we don't see very often, you two seem to get on rather well," Tony raised an eyebrow.

"We both have a talent for wrangling Stark men," Loki said casually as he got up holding onto the red tie. Tony reached for it and Loki pushed the golden yellow tie into his hand. "She'll have picked red for Eindride, I'm certain of it."

"A Stark can't be tamed," Tony mumbled as he wrapped the tie around the shirt.

"Are you trying to deny being domesticated again?" Gabby called out as she, Steve, and Chris walked into the room.

"I don't fix mental illnesses," Chris put up his hands.

"I was going to warmly welcome you back for a visit, but now I don't think I will," Tony shot Chris a look as he laughed. He finished tying the tie and flipped his collar down. "What are you doing here anyway kid? Here for the press conference tomorrow?"

"Press conference?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Oh right, we forgot to mention that," Steve and shrugged a little. Tony dramatically gasped and Steve rolled his eyes. "Anders is officially becoming CEO of Stark Industries."

Chris gasped for real this time, putting a hand to his chest. "And he didn't tell me? Where is the little shit?"

"Downstairs with Elpis," Loki offered as he adjusted Tony's tie. Tony was fake gagging, coughing when Loki tugged a little too hard on the tie.

"Elpis?" Chris raised an eyebrow. "New dog?" The other four int he room snorted at the same time. "He's got a girl down there with him?"

"His personal assistant," Gabby corrected.

"Oh, this I have to see." Chris sprinted for the stairs.

"I knew there was a reason I liked those two being separated by a state or two," Tony commented when Loki was finally done messing with his clothes.

"Because they stayed out of trouble?" Steve asked and Tony shook his head.

"Because it kept my Tower in one piece." 

* * *

Eindride gagged a little when Elpis pulled on the red tie. "Oh, if I wanted you to choke I could do it in a more imaginative way," she rolled her eyes. Taking a step back she looked at him with the black button down and red tie. She wasn't sure what jacket to put him in yet, but she was positive that she wanted him to stay in the black pinstripe pants.

Eindride started to roll up the sleeves to the shirt. "Sir, Dr Rogers is coming down the stairs," JARVIS told them and both people blinked.

"I don't remember you have a Doctor coming," Elpis said, narrowing her eyes at him a little. "I don't remember you having a Doctor Rogers."

"How would you know who all of my physicians are yet? It's only been two months," Eindride started to loosen the tie quickly.

"Working for a Stark is like working in dog years, I know a lot about you," she said and took the tie before he threw it. "Specially when your parents live just upstairs. I hear it all from them as well."

"You have a real life woman down here." They both turned to the voice of the newcomer and Elpis raised an eyebrow. "There's no way that she's just an assistant." Chris looked at her and started to circle her. "Anders, holy shit, she gorgeous."

Eindride sighed a little and merely made a gesture with his hand towards Elpis. "This is my cousin, Chris. He's a cardiologist, and insists on being addressed by Doctor whenever he's here. Chris, that is my personal assistant, Elpis Hope. And I'll remind that I'm blind so I wouldn't know what she looks like, not that it matters because she's actually rather good at her job."

"She's been running you like a hamster in a wheel today, hasn't she?" Chris grinned looking at his cousin. "You sound exhausted and your talking like your Father."

"He needs to be ready for tomorrow, and that's exactly what I'm making sure is happening." She offered her hand to Chris who took it right away. "You must be the Chris that Mr and Mrs Rogers love to talk about when they're here." Eindride let out a little groan. "Yup, same one."

"What brings you up from Baltimore?" Eindride quickly changed the subject.

"Well, Alex and I got some news that I wanted to share with everyone, and I wanted to visit you." Eindride raised an eyebrow at him. Elpis glanced between the two cousins and the second of silence.

"I'm going to go put this tie back and pick out a jacket for you to wear for tomorrow," she said, excusing herself from the room.

Chris watched her go before taken a step closer to Eindride. "I've been having some dreams on and off." Eindride frowned and looked towards him. "Your expression leads me to think I'm not the only one."

"Gjinir's office?" Chris made a noise in affirmation. "Yeah, I had those dreams, nightmares for about three weeks."

"Then they suddenly stopped?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Kind of. It's the same every night now," he told his cousin. "It starts the same, like the nightmare, but then there's some humming, and something fighting back the pain."

"You're not curious about what it might mean?" Eindride rolled his eyes a little.

"Of course I am. The dreams terrified me at first, Chris," he frowned a little. "But, its hard when I'm about to take over a multi-billion dollar company, and I have to make sure that everything moves smoothly. I'm going to be watched for a while, and I had to get in contact with all our international offices, and blah blah. I didn't have the time." Eindride pushed himself up from where he was leaning against a chair. "I figured that Dad had told Eir about it, and she placed some kind of charm in my room or something."

"She's coming around more often now?" Chris watched him, following him to the living room.

"The twins love it when she visits," Eindride told him. "Dad is still in that weird trying to cope phase of it all, but I think she has a genuine interest in the family and all that jazz." Eindride turned to face Chris. "By the way, if you and Alex ever decide to make long distance house calls, Dad's pregnant again, and he might let Alex be the pediatrician."

"Talk about someone who's gorgeous," Elpis said as she walked out in the living room. She had two jackets in her hand. "I wouldn't mind seeing your boyfriend around here." She gave Chris an evil smirk and he raised an eyebrow, giving her the nod of victory.

"Alright, I approve of her," Chris nodded as he watched Elpis help him slip into a white blazer, pulling the sleeve out and folding them up over the cuff. "She even has a better fashion sense for you than you did when you had your sight." Eindride reached over to whack Chris's shoulder. There was a spark right before his hand touched him, and flash and a force then pushed them back. Eindride flew back into Elpis and they both tumbled over the couch, tipping it over, and Chris rolled across the ground in the opposite direction.

Chris shook his head a little and looked up, his eyes widening when there was someone standing in the middle of the living room. His eyes met the murky yellow eyes of a smirking Gjinir.


	5. Chapter 5

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"Hello, Asgardian." Eindride froze as the voice in the room, fear flooding his body. "You're looking a little older."

"Unfortunately I'm still looking at you." He heard Chris speaking up. Elpis put a hand on his arm and another on his back, keeping him low to the ground. He felt a familiar warmth tingle through his arm and he quickly turned his head to look towards her. She gave his arm a little squeeze, telling him to start moving.

Eindride felt the wall and the corner and knew they were out of sight from the living room. He grabbed Elpis's hand. "I'm going to go and help Chris," she whispered to him.

"He's the one who blinded me," he warned her. He felt selfish, and guilty, for an instant when he didn't tell her not to go. He didn't want her to get hurt, but he knew he wouldn't be able to help Chris at the moment. She must have seen it on his face cause she pat his cheek a little.

"I won't take it personally this time, but I want a pay raise." Eindride nodded a little and felt her get up, heading back to the room.

She didn't try to make her steps quiet as she walked back into the room, and Gjinir looked over at her. Chris swore he saw her eyes light up as she looked at the sorcerer. He took the distraction and pushed himself up.

"I don't remember giving you security clearance for this floor." Elpis started to circle him and he just smirked, turning to keep facing her. "I'm afraid that you'll need appointments and passes to be able to see Doctor Rogers." She noticed Chris look at her, and nodded, understanding that she was trying to keep Eindride safe.

"The Asgardian has a protector now? How interesting." He looked past her when they all heard footsteps coming towards the room. Gjinir's yellow eyes lit up a little when he locked eyes on Tony and Loki as they ran in with Steve and Gabby. "I was hoping that more Fae would show up."

Loki started to growl a little and Tony frowned. Chris was on the opposite side of the room, trying to edge back to Eindride without being 's hand suddenly shot out and a yellow spell flew towards Loki. Before he or Tony could react Elpis was there, a wall of flames catching the spell, destroying it.

Gjinir watched her and smirked a little. "This round to you, maiden of fire. I shall let my powers rest until they can match yours."

"If I see you again, I'll let my fires consume you whole," she growled. He lifted an eyebrow in curiosity before disappearing from the room. Elpis moved at the same time Chris did, both heading for Eindride.

"Whoa, wait." Tony frowned and the others followed. Chris had helped Eindride stand and Elpis stood a few feet away.

"It was you," Eindride looked over to Elpis, brows furrowed. "Every night?"

She licked her lips a little and nodded. "Yes, because you need to sleep." She could feel five other pairs of eyes on hers but she kept her attention on Eindride. "And I won't apologize for doing it, because it caused you pain. So yes, I stopped your nightmares. You can fire me if you want, but I won't regret it."

"Are you a fire demon?" Tony asked and Eindride frowned a little at the question.

"Is my heritage going to become necessary to stay here?" She asked, turning her head to look at Loki and Tony. "I can give you my word that I will never harm anyone here." She could see that even Gabby and Steve wouldn't be satisfied with that. Elpis looked back at Eindride then to Chris. "Eindride, I'm going to ask Chris to put his hand on your shoulder. I want you to use your powers to see through his eyes." Both cousins frowned.

"How do you know about his powers?" Chris asked first.

"I want Eindride to see this," she stated calmly. "Explaining it is one thing, but he has to see it. Please." She looked back at Eindride. Chris looked over at him and he nodded once. Chris wrinkled his nose a little but put his hand on Eindride's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. He took a breath and let his magic travel out and up Chris's arm.

Chris blinked a few times. "This is a little weird," he muttered.

Elpis looked over at Loki, then at Tony, and took a breath. She relaxed her body and everyone could feel a shift in the air as she let her powers go. Her braid seemed to melt away, hair falling down her back, the colors in her eyes dancing like gems in a fire. Her skin seemed to glow red and orange. Loki's eyes widened when he looked at her understanding dawning immediately.

"Is your hair fire?" Tony asked after several moments of silence. Her hair had never stopped moving, dancing with an invisible breeze.

"She's a Phoenix," Loki said, never looking away from her. "Something that shouldn't even exist anymore."

"I'm the last one," she told him, looking at everyone in the room. "I kept my secrets like you tried to keep yours. I respected that, and only just wanted to do my job."

"You didn't know what job you were applying for before?" Steve asked and she shook her head.

"If I had known I probably wouldn't have applied in the first place. This family attracts too much attention, and I don't exactly want anyone knowing I exist," she told them. "I'm the last of my kind, and if anyone found out, those that still know about phoenix's, they'd hunt me down without mercy."

"So why accept the job?" Eindride asked. She turned to look at him, noticing that he had taken a few steps towards her, pulling away from Chris's hand. "When you got to the building you must have known then, at least known where you would be working. Why walk into the room, and accept after the interview?"

"Well, I don't think I ever said yes," she smiled sadly. "I wasn't really given that choice. But," she continued before he could open his mouth again, "I could have always said no. I accepted because you were different than any other person I had met in my incredibly long life span."

"You said you've worked with the blind before?" Tony was curious now.

"The first man I worked with, that you'd know, was Homer." She replied. "I learned how to read and write braille by its creator, as well. I didn't lie about anything in my interview."

"She's probably older than I am," Loki admitted. That caught everyone's attention.

"How else do you think that Homer was able to write the Illiad and the Odyssey?" She had never turned her body away from Eindride, but turned her head to look at everyone in turn. "He needed a recounting from an eye witness."

"Much older than me," Loki confirmed, nodding. "Perhaps we can continue this conversation over dinner?" He asked, hand resting on his stomach. Tony looked at him and blinked. "I'm very hungry, and she's not exactly going anywhere. It's obvious that she's made a personal vow to protect our son."

Elpis, Eindride, and Chris all looked over at him. "I'm pregnant, and I'm hungry. You would do well to indulge me," Loki practically growled out, heading back for the interview.

Tony scrunched his nose up a little before turning to follow him. "Yay, the grumpy part of the pregnancy star- owwww." He groaned when Loki elbowed his side.

Elpis let out a sigh and she slipped back into her human guise. She reached out to put her hand on Eindride's but stopped, frowning. She sensed a spark of magic, magic that wasn't hers, or anyone else's in the building. Looking over at Chris she sensed the same spark. Steve reached out towards Chris. "No, wait!" There was another spark of power and she and Gabby had to look away at the light, the shockwave pushing everyone back a few feet.

Gabby was the first to look over seeing Chris and Steve pushed back against the walls. Her eyes widened when she looked at Steve. "Oh my god," she breathed out as she walked over to him. He was too busy looking at down at himself to see her at first. "Steve?" He blinked and had to look up at her a couple of inches, his eyes wide.

"Holy shit!" Tony exclaimed as him and Loki had hurried back over. He was looking at Steve. "You're... well, you're you. The old you." Everyone looked at him. "This is Steve Rogers, before the super soldier serum." Tony looked him up and down. "You are short and skinny."

Gabby turned back to Steve and he looked at her. Chris watched his parents closely, still in shock at the massive change. Gabby walked over to him and Steve wrapped his arms around her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve looked at the Tony as he sat on a chair down in the workshop. He had taken some blood and was letting JARVIS run some tests. Elpis was with Chris and Eindride, trying to find the magic that had caused the change.

"I'll tell you, it's nice to know that even for now, someone is an inch shorter than me," Tony said as he scrolled through the screen on his tablet. Steve snorted and rolled his eyes a little. "It's weird though, cause I've only seen the pictures from my dad's files." He looked up at Steve. "And those were hard to believe when I saw them."

"To be fair, Howard didn't see me like this for long. I met him the day they used the serum," Steve told him.

"Your voice is the same, which just sounds odd with your skinny little self." Tony was watching him, trying not to smile.

"Can you focus on the tests?" Steve raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't like feeling like a guinea pig."

"Right, sorry." Tony looked back down at the tablet then walked over and pulled the wires from his arms and neck. "Just chill here for a bit, I'm gonna see if Elpis was able to find anything, and then find Loki." Steve nodded as Tony walked off.

After about ten minutes he got bored and got up. His foot had started to fidget, something he had not missed when he became the super soldier. He walked down the hall and saw that the study door had been partially closed, and saw Gabby's blonde hair walk by inside.

"-never goes back to before?" He heard Loki ask and frowned a little.

"Of course," he heard Gabby answer right away. "He's still Steve. It's just his looks that have changed."

"And other physical assets that he won't have anymore," Loki added, voice too calm. Steve wanted to be angry but knew that he was just stating the facts, he couldn't take it personally.

"He's still got his powers from Asgard, right?" Gabby asked.

"We don't know," Tony admitted. "Whatever happened it removed a serum, something that was done to his body. It wasn't a spell. So we don't know yet if he's still technically Asgardian either."

"When will you know?" Gabby asked looking at Tony. "And the answer had better not be until we see if he starts aging."

"Why such a rush to know?" Loki asked, interested.

"Because I don't want to wait too long to forfeit my own powers." Steve blinked his eyes wide. "If he still has his powers, great, then nothing will change. But if not, then I'll give it up and live as a mortal with him." Tony took a breath to say something but Gabby stopped him. "That is still the man that I married and have a family with."

"If things had been different, and you had met him, say at your classes, would you have noticed him?" Loki asked her and she blinked a little. "If you had not known him as Captain America before hand, can you honestly say that you might have still married him?"

There was a short silence while Gabby thought. "Yes," she answered eventually. "Because he would still be, and still is, the same person inside. I can admit that it would probably take a while, but I didn't fall in love with him for his looks, that was just a bonus." She stood up and took a breath, heading for the door. Steve stepped closer to the door as she opened it and she stopped when she saw him.

"I didn't marry you because you were Captain America, I've seen that wedding." Steve raised an eyebrow. "I married Steven Rogers, the boy from the Bronx, the father of our children, and my best friend. I love who you are, not what you are. And if we never figure this out, then we don't."

"There was a lot wrong with my health back then," he told her.

"And we have a son who's a doctor, and can tell us where we need to go to get that taken care of," she shrugged a little. "I'm not worried about that, it's just one more thing we'll add to our list."

"We have a long list." She smiled at him and nodded.

"It's our list." She walked over and ran his fingers through his hair. "It's a little weird not having to look up." Steve laughed and kissed her. "Mmm, good. That still feels the same." 

* * *

Elpis stared at a small ball of yellow power inside of a container as Chris sat next to Eindride in the living room. "You two shouldn't even be able to be by each other," Chris commented and Elpis lifted her eyes to look at him. "You're a bird of fire, can you take the shape of a bird by the way? And he's got the heritage of an ice planet. Usually fire and ice don't get along."

"I like the cold," Elpis said simply as she looked back at the power. Chris and Eindride glanced at each other out of habit. "I've spent too long in hot climates and lands. Cold water has always felt warm to me, and ice always melts when I touch it. I like feeling like a normal temperature for once."

"I can surprisingly relate," Eindride said after a moment. "I've always felt colder than normal."

"Oh my god, it's like a perfect equilibrium." Chris mock gagged and Eindride pushed his side. "so you were honestly at Troy?" Both boys looked at her now. Like kids at a candy store. "Did you see the so called "face that launched a thousand ships?""

She swallowed a laugh and smiled, nodding. "I knew her very intimately," she said as she tapped at the glass. "I never did like the name Helen." Chris and Eindride raised both their eyebrows at the implication. "Aphrodite gave it to me before the whole golden apple debacle." Elpis looked up at the cousins. "Paris was a wimp, and Menelaus was a pig. Achilles was cocky and got himself killed, and I ran like hell after the stupid wooden horse was led into the city." Elpis looked up at their faces. "Yeah, Homer didn't believe me at first either. He was fun, I often miss him and his stories," she smiled.

Eindride coughed a little, and nudged Chris's leg. "So you came over to tell us some news. Why don't you tell me while we wait? Maybe it'll make you feel better?"

Chris smiled a little and Elpis looked over at him. He was looking down at his hands a little. "no need to feel guilty about anything, Chris," she told him gently. "From what I know about your dad, and from what you both of told me about this Gjinir, he's going to get through this. It could have been much worse if anyone else had activated the left over magic."

Chris nodded and rubbed his hands together a little. "Well, Alex and I have been waiting for a while, and we didn't want to tell anyone because we didn't want to jinx it. Um, well," he looked up, unable to help the smile on his face. "We're going to adopt."

"No way!" Eindride grinned. "God damned family man you are!" Chris laughed a little and nodded.

"Yeah, she was actually born last week," Chris told them. "At the hospital we both work at. She's got to spend some time in NICU, she was born a bit early, but she's a tough little thing." Both Eindride and Elpis smiled at him. "They say she might have asthma, but they're confident that when she's released she'll be healthy other than that."

"Someone has asthma?" The three looked over to see the two couples walk in to the room.

"Other than yourself?" Tony said to Steve, trying not to smirk. Steve hummed in annoyance at him.

Chris stood up and smiled at his parents. "I was just telling them, and now is as good a time as ever. Alex and I are adopting a little girl." He jumped a little when Gabby squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Another granddaughter!" She grinned and hugged him tightly. Chris smiled and hugged her back, then hugged both her and Steve when she refused to let go just for Steve. Tony and Loki both snorted, smiles on their faces. "What's her name? Has she been born yet? Or is she older? Oh I don't care, when do I get to meet her?"

"We're going to name her Mia. She was born last week, she was a premy," Chris started to explain. "Her mother unfortunately didn't make it, and there is no father. Alex was actually the on call in the NICU the night she was born. We had been waiting to hear from the agency we were going through for a bit now, but when he saw her he called me." Chris got this look on his face as he stared at the floor for a second. "She's so small, but she was pumping her little hands in the air." He shook his head a little, coming back to the present. "Anyway, they found the biological father, and he's signed away his rights, so now we're just waiting for our paperwork. As soon as she's ready to leave the hospital, she'll be coming home with us."

"This poor girl will never have a date," Eindride whispered to Elpis. She covered her mouth to stop from laughing out loud. "They're going to chase away any person who wants to date her."

"Shush, or I'll put you in a horrid outfit for tomorrow," Elpis threatened him.

"No you won't," Eindride grinned. "We both know that you'll be blamed by all the gossip magazines for the outfit if you do." Elpis pursed her lips at him, but he just smiled.

"Like I said, it's like working in dog years for a Stark. I should be getting a raise after the press conference. And more hazard pay, mental and emotional compensation."


	7. Chapter 7

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Lee held onto a plate as she sat next to Loki on the couch, Gabby on the other side, Steve and Clint sitting on a different couch. Clint about one minute of teasing in about Steve's new look before he proved that even skinny and bony Steve Rogers still remembered how to fight. And then they both got yelled at when Steve started to wheeze from his asthma. Now they both sat on the couch while they're partners doted on Loki. Who of course had no complaints.

The TV was on and they were waiting for the press conference to start. Chris came out with a couple of glasses and sat between Clint and Steve. "Did they confiscate the snacks?"

"Loki did," Clint told him. "And my girlfriend helped."

"My wife was a co-conspirator," Steve said, taking a glass of water form Chris.

"I'm actually more afraid of Loki right now," Clint glanced over at them. "He's pregnant, so it scares me." Both Rogers men snorted but nodded. They watched as Loki picked part of a sandwich off the plate, the trio not once looking over at the men.

"They all scare me right now," Chris muttered.

"Do women scare you in general?" Clint asked looking over at the youngest on the couch. "I'm genuinely curious. Is that why you're with Alex?" Chris smacked his shoulder and Clint started to laugh.

"I am not saving either of you when Loki turns on you," Steve muttered, watching the TV now.

"But, I'm your son." Chris looked over at him, pouting.

Steve just shook his head. "You're a man now, starting his own family. You need to learn how to keep yourself alive, because your child is going to test every nerve you have." He smirked a little as Chris sent a little glare his way. "Mmmm, I think I'm going to like being a grandpa again. Specially when this grandchild lives much closer."

"You're evil," Chris grumbled. Clint started to cackle. 

* * *

Elpis straightened Eindride's tie first before sighing and going over to Tony, fixing his tie. "Who told you two to wear ties in the first place?" She muttered a little.

"Loki," the both answered at the same time. She rolled her eyes a little.

"If this weren't an extremely important moment, I'd rip the ties off." Elpis buttoned Tony's jacket first before looking at Eindride and just doing one button.

"And yet you still listened to him about the ties." Tony smirked a little, hands going into his pockets.

"Yes, because I didn't want him to rip my head off," she told him as she picked up her tablet. "I'd feel bad for making a pregnant person get stressed out."

"Even though it's her head," Eindride snorted.

"I'd just come right back, you realize this, right?" Eindride raised an eyebrow. "I ash when I die. Rise from the ashes and all that jazz. Losing my head just takes a little longer to come back from." There was a knock on the door before Tony or Eindride could question her. She pressed the white stick into Eindride's hand and walked over to open the door. "I'll right off to the side, please don't do anything to get me in trouble with Loki."

She was not encouraged by the matching smirks they both wore.

For the most part the press conference when smoothly. Tony worked the crowd like the expert he was, having them practically fawning at his feet, before making the big announcement. Eindride was standing to the side before approaching the podium. Elpis had left some note cards for him at the front, but, like Tony, he didn't use them.

"Are you going to name Assistant as your successor?" One reporter asked and he heard even Tony let out a snort of laughter.

"I don't follow in the exact steps of my father," Eindride answered with a smile. "Also, I don't think that my assistant would let me do that. She has enough trouble taking care of me at work, I don't think she'd have the time to run the company."

"What he fails to mention is that she would likely beat him if he tried to give up the role," Tony threw in to get some more laughs. "She lives up to the spirit of Pepper Potts, I can confirm this."

"That would be why this conference was so well organized, and timed." Eindride smiled a little and more questions were flung at them. "Sorry, that's all the time we have. As you can imagine I have a very busy schedule." He walked off, feeling Tony at his back.

"I think it went fairly well," Tony smiled and Eindride nodded.

"I'm sure that Elpis will have a glare for us for not using the note cards," he chuckled a little. They walked down the hall of the building, heading for the elevator, and he frowned a little when Elpis hadn't met up with them yet. "Where do you think she went?"

"Probably waiting in the office," Tony shrugged a little. "You know, for someone who fought getting an assistant for at least four years, you suddenly seem quite attached to her."

"It helps when they actually have a brain, and not the bottled tans that usually apply," Eindride told him. "It also helps immensely that she knows braille. She actually met him, the man who invented Braille, you know."

"Chris mentioned something about Helen of Troy this morning before we let, too." Tony shrugged as the elevator doors opened. "I'd like to talk to her about some of her adventures, as I'm sure Loki would too." The rode the cart up a few floors to the main office. Eindride's sense went on alert a little when he felt a smattering of magic coming from his office.

"I know that look," Tony commented when they stopped in the hall. "What's going on?"

"There's something going on in my office," Eindride frowned. "Someone's in there." Tony walked towards the doors first, Eindride behind him.

Slowly pushing the door open silently, Tony peeked his head around the edge then blinked, body un-tensing. Eindride felt the tension slip away and relaxed a little himself. He saw Elpis sitting in a chair by the windows, the sun on her, eyes closed and head resting in one of her hands. If he wasn't mistaken she looked like she was sleeping.

As they walked in Tony thought that her hair had actually dulled in color from the night before. "You two don't know what stick to the script means, do you?" She asked quietly as they walked in. "The Stark men need to come with a manual."

"You need to get some sleep," Eindride told her, stopping front of her. "Did you sleep through the whole conference?"

"No, I saw the first half, and I listened to the second half," she motioned towards the tablet on the edge of the table. "I was very attentive, don't worry. You can also be sure that I would never let you make me CEO." She blinked her eyes open to look at Eindride. "Although you were wrong about having a busy day today. I cleared the rest of the day, for both of you."

"You're never usually this tired," Eindride didn't move. She rolled her eyes a little. "Going to tell me what's going on?"

"You're not going to move until I tell you, are you?" He shook his head and she sighed. "All the forced energy over the past two months is catching up with me. I let myself actually rest last night, and that's not been the usual routine, so my body is rebeling."

"You've lost a bit of your usual shine," Tony commented.

"It's what happens when phoenix's start to ash," she closed her eyes as she answered. Her cheek rested on her hand. Tony was the only one who saw the concerned look on Eindride's face. "Lose their luster, slowly start to wilt, building energy for the next cycle."

"How often is this supposed to happen?" Eindride asked, sitting next to her.

"It's not supposed to happen for another fifty or so years, honestly." She opened her eyes and glanced over, smiling a little at him. "But I've been rather busy the past several weeks. I'm just using the sun to recharge my batteries right now, so don't worry about it. I'll sparkle and sun for your amusement in a few hours."

"You'll sparkle and shine when you get some rest," Tony said as he walked over to them, tie already loosened and half way off. "Both of you. And if you argue then you'll both be tending to Loki's pregnant needs."

"That's just not fair," Eindride grumped.

"I thought you had grown out of the not fair phase from your teenage years," Tony quipped. Elpis snorted a little. "Apparently I was wrong."


	8. Chapter 8

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki let his fingers wrap around Tony's hair as he slept. They were both on the couch, at three in the morning, and Tony had his head resting on Loki's leg, his hand resting on Loki's stomach. He idly wondered if Tony should get his hair cut, but he wanted to see the new baby pull on his hair. Loki's lips curled up a little in a smiled and he gently tugged on the hair around his finger. Tony snuffled in his sleep and turned a little.

There was a shuffled behind him and Loki turned his head a little. He saw Elpis standing there and raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, I didn't know you were up. I was just gonna sit out on the balcony."

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Loki asked, and she walked over so he didn't have to keep his head turned. "It's been a week and you've still not regained all your energy."

"Says the pregnant god with erratic powers." Loki raised both eyebrows at her and she pulled her long robe closed a little tighter. "Sorry, that was snippy." Elpis sat at the edge of the arm of the couch. "I don't need a lot of sleep, and I sometimes find myself up on the roof but I can't be bothered to go up all that way right now."

"I'll say this while my mortal is asleep," Loki said, glancing down at Tony. "I appreciate the energy that you expended to give our son some peace of mind. I have a theory that you actually prevented Gjinir from showing up earlier, so there's that, too." Elpis nodded a little.

"Eir is usually around when I Ash," she told him. "I've seen her about three times before, that's how she knew who I was." Loki looked at her, smirking a little. "Yeah, don't think I don't know she said something to you. The Valkyries usually take our souls to rest, and Eir is waiting for the day that I'll say yes to her."

"How long will you be able to put off Ashing?" Loki asked, rubbing Tony's fingers.

"With normal energy usage, a year, perhaps." She looked over at the two on the couch. She saw how even in his sleep Tony was still devoted to Loki. The way his fingers were softly curled around the developing baby bump, and how he reacted subconsciously to Loki's fingers. Elpis looked up and caught Loki's gaze, smirking. "Don't look at me like that."

"I have no earthly idea what you are talking about." Loki leaned back against the couch. "If you're going to go to the balcony, do you mind handing me the plate of fruit over there?" He looked over at the coffee table where a plate of sliced fruits was sitting.

She got up and grabbed it then frowned a little when she saw what was on it. "Are these all drizzled in frosting?"

"Hand them over." He put out a hand, wiggling his fingers. "Mock me and just know that retribution will be swift and gratifying when you're pregnant and eating weird foods."

"No mocking, not here," she said as she handed over the plate. "Have fun, don't stay up too late." Loki just hummed as he picked up some banana slices. She chuckled a little as he tuned her out as soon as he got food, and headed or the balcony door.

Tony sniffed a little a few minutes later and frowned a little. "Are you eating lemon slices with frosting again?" He murmured sleepily. "I used to have an iron stomach until I met you." He jumped a little and smiled when Loki pinched his hip. He quickly frowned and moved his face when Loki put his citrus covered fingers on Tony's lips. "Ack! Gross!" 

* * *

Tony enjoyed one or two moments of relaxing. Moments when he wasn't do anything, no Starkpad, no Starkphone, he didn't even want to go work in his lab. One of those moments was now, after getting Loki down for an ultrasound, then letting him fall asleep on the couch, head in his lap, blanket draped over his legs.

Tony's fingers were draw soft equations on Loki's stomach as he thought. Loki was almost 21 weeks now and had finally consented to learning the gender of the baby.

"It's too quiet in here." Tony turned his head and saw Eindride wander in. "Either something good happened, or something bad."

"Something good," Tony chuckled. "You're going to have another sister." Eindridde smiled as he sat down in the chair by the couch.

"He finally caved in, then." Tony nodded, smiling. "Well, there's another girl for you to spoil, and try to again to scare off any potential suitors."

"I feel jipped," Tony admitted. "Nathan was kind of already there, and there was no scaring him off. And if Emma ever decides to marry, well, it'll probably be a Jotun."

"I'd love to see you try to stare down someone who's at least three feet taller than you, Dad," Eindride grinned. "I would use my powers for evil just to see that."

"Shut it kid," Tony said and threw a pillow at the man. "What brings you up here? And without your shadow?" It had been a week since Loki and Elpis had talked and she was seen everywhere with him during the week.

"I don't need her with me all the time," Eindride said but it lacked conviction and Tony raised an eyebrow. "Ugh, I need to ask for help on this topic." Now Tony was really interested.

"Oh, this is going to be good." Tony smirked. He studied Eindride for a few moments. "Get some flowers, no wait, better yet, Make them." He saw his son raise an eyebrow back at him. "Ice flowers, unmelting and all that jazz. Maybe start with one to help ask for the date."

"How do you even know that's what I want?" Tony snorted at the question, biting back the laugh so he didn't wake up Loki.

"Please, Anders, my oldest son, blood of my blood. I know that look very well." Tony started to rub Loki's stomach. "You're smitten, but it's different since she works with you. And if it all goes to hell you're afraid it'll ruin what you have now." Eindride grumbled a little. "She's like Pepper, don't worry about that. So, what were you thinking for the date? Going out? Eating in?" 

* * *

Exactly three days later Eindride swore to himself he'd never tell Tony that he was right. Clint and Tony had helped him set up a dinner on the roof of the building. He was still very much in the public eye, and dating his PA was not something he needed in the news right now. Specially not a first date. The summer evening was just cool enough, the breeze not too cold, not that it would bother either them, but the weather had been kind to them.

"I'm impressed," Elpis said, smiling. She was leaning with her back to the railing, facing Eindride, holding onto a flute of champagne. You got Steve to cook some amazing food, you set up a table in my favorite place of the Tower, and managed to not let your Dad spy on us."

Eindride snorted and smiled. "We can really thank JARVIS for that one, but I try."

"I think the most impressive part is that you managed this without me." She laughed when his expression deadpanned. "Honestly though, I really enjoyed it." She leaned in to kiss his cheek and his hand came up to cup her cheek gently. Eindride turned her head and caught a kiss on her lips. Elpis smiled as he put a hand on her waist, pulling her to his chest. "There's the famous Stark charm. So smooth."

"You're going to mock every move I make aren't you?" Eindride smiled and kissed her again.

"Where would the fun be if I didn't?" Eindride snorted softly and let his thumb trace along her jaw.

"You're the only one that doesn't feel cold under my fingers. It's refreshing, that's for sure." Elpis grinned and leaned in to kiss him herself. Her hand went up, resting on his upper arm as she reached out to put her glass on the railing.

Eindride frowned when Elpis suddenly took a breath, the champagne glass falling, then winced when he felt a sudden pain in his chest. A burning. Elpis's hand had tightened on his arm and took in a long breath. He reached up to his chest, pulling away slightly from Elpis and felt something wet on his shirt. "Elpis?"

"We need to get inside," she said carefully, trying not to let her voice shake. Eindride grunted a little when the burning started to spread and he tried not panic. Something what very wrong, with both of them.

"JARVIS?" He called out as Elpis held onto his arms, the two heading for the elevator entrance, the doors opening automatically. He gasped a little when the pain hit his legs, almost locking his knees. The doors closed and the elevator started to move. Elpis leaned against the wall of the cart and Eindride had to back away. Her hands were starting to burn his skin. He waited for the humming, the warmth to travel up his arms, the tell-tale signs that it was just a nightmare.

Elpis looked up when the doors opened and saw Tony, Loki, and Clint waiting. JARVIS must have warned them. She motioned to Eindride when Tony and Clint hurried in first, enforcing it with a glare. They picked him up as best they could, him squirming at their touch as Gjinir's potion worked through him once again.

Loki walked over to her, carefully kneeling down in front of her. Elpis glanced down and saw the growing dark spot on her dress, the point of an arrow that had been tipped with the poison. "I can wait until they're done," she said quietly, looking back up at Loki. "I can't move my upper body right now, there seems to be an arrow inside of me."

"You surely have been alive a long time if you can joke about a fatal wound," Loki said. He watched her hair fall from the bun it was in, the color slowly starting to fade to gray, her eyes dulling.

"You should call Chris," she told him, ignoring his comment. "I'm about 90 percent sure this was Gjinir, and he'll know what's happening to Anders."

"JARVIS will call him for them." Loki was aware of someone walking over to them, but hadn't been expecting to see Eir. Elpis let out a little laugh and closed her eyes.

"I'm not going with you yet, Eir," she told the Valkyrie. "I haven't ashed yet, if you haven't noticed." The woman just hummed and reached down to pull her up slowly.

"Are you sure that you're going to Ash this time?" She asked gently and Loki frowned as he stood up. Elpis set her jaw and didn't look at Eir. They could hear Tony talking to Chris in the other room, and Eindride was huffing as he tossed on the couch.

"The most important thing right now is not to let Uncle Loki come in contact with this," Chris was telling them, his face looking rushed and worried on the video feed. He was at home, looking like he just woke up, still in hospital scrubs. "It's a Fae type poison." He didn't notice the other three walk in. "I don't know what would happen to the baby. Second, no skin to skin contact with him right now, it'll only cause him agony. I don't know how much was given to him-"

"Not much," Elpis spoke up and Chris looked over and his eyes seemed to widen more.

"Holy fuck, there's an arrow in your body!" They saw Alex's face appear on screen as Chris's exclamation.

"Yes," she nodded. "And the arrow was tipped in the poison, but not a lot got into his system."

Chris blinked then shook his head a little to gather his thoughts again. "Okay, good. Well, it's not good, but it's better than last time. Alright, we're on our way, just, don't get hurt anymore." The line cut and Eir helped Elpis sit next to the couch on the floor.

Elpis licked her lips a little and watched Eindride. She made her decision quickly and reached out and placed her hands on top of Eindride's. Tony and Clint moved to stop her but Eir held out an arm, shaking her head. Elps's fingertips glowed slightly and Eindride moved his hands to grip onto hers. He panted a little, but stopped tossing around, feeling the warmth spread up from his hands.

"You're hands are cold," Eindride said quietly, frowning. "They're never cold." Elpis pulled one of his hands over and kissed the top of his knuckles softly, humming a little.

After a few moments Eir helped her stand up, Chris and Alex running into the room at the same time. Elpis quickly pulled out the arrow, biting back a shout of pain, burning the offending item in her hand. "Tell the Norns, they have a twisted sense of humor," she said to Eir, who was still holding her up from behind. "Happiness always just a touch away." She looked at Tony and Loki and bowed her head a little. "Thank you, and I'm sorry. Sorry that I could stay to protect him longer."

Her hair started to wisp at the ends, like a dying fire, and she pat Eir's arm. "You know I've always been here to guide you when the time came," she told the phoenix who just nodded. "Perhaps they will-" Eir's words were cut off, her eyes widening, when Elpis seemed to vanish from his arms.

"What just happened?" Loki stepped forward, frowning. Eir blinked and looked around.

"Someone's interfered," the Valkyrie growled. "They've taken her from me."

"Why would someone do that?" Tony asked.

"A dying phoenix can grant immortality and power," Eir told them before disappearing.


	9. Chapter 9

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Chris wiped Eindride's forehead as he rode out the last of the pain and the poison in his system. Alex was with Tony in the lab trying to see if they could try and fashion an antidote to fight whatever Gjinir had. Loki had called Gabby to ask if she could go ask Thor and Anya for help in finding Elpis.

"What happened?" Eindride asked and Chris licked his lips. "Don't surgarcoat anything, please. There's obviously something very wrong. Where's Elpis?"

"Well, it was definitely Gjinir that attacked," Chris told him as he helped Eindride up to sit against he couch instead of lying down. "But you weren't given as much as whatever this stuff is as last time, so it wore of more quickly. Alex and Uncle Tony are in the lab trying to come up with a vaccine of some kind, and Clint and Lee are working on tapping into security cameras around the are to see where Gjinir came from."

"And Elpis?" Chris let out a slow breath, really hoping that he wouldn't have to be the one to tell him. "Something happened to her, and I want to know what it was. Her hands felt cold, and she has never felt cold."

"Gjinir shot her," Chris said quietly. "With an arrow, the one that was tipped in the poison that made it into your system."

"So she's healing?" Eindride asked, a little bit of hope in his voice. He wasn't overly optimistic, especially when Chris didn't answer right away.

"Eir was supposed to take her to the fields," Loki said as he walked into the room. Despite the situation, Chris was glad that he had come to take over. "Before she could though, someone interfered, and has taken Elpis. We don't know where she is right now." Chris frowned a little. "A dying phoenix is worth a lot in power, and possibly money."

"Dying?" Eindride took a breath. "We just wait for her to come back, right? Phoenix rising and all that?"

"I don't know, but it's never a good sign when a Valkyrie comes to claim," Loki told him. "We've got several people in different realms looking for her though. "We will find her." Eindride nodded a little.

"I heard you had a date with her," Chris commented after a few moments. Loki raised an eyebrow over at his nephew, who was smirking slightly. "Has the self-imposed single stage ended?"

"Coming from the man who broke the Pact before I did," Eindride shot back and Loki snorted. Chris blinked when he saw Loki munching on a pretzel stick suddenly. He wanted to know where this food was coming from.

"Yup, and I'm starting a family. Time to catch up, Anders." Chris snapped his fingers a little.

"That is a point," Loki said. "He's giving Steve and Gabbriella their second grandchild, while your father and I are yet to have one."

"Not my fault that Kaia and Nathan refuse to have a child," Eindride snorted. "You're having another baby anyway, what's the rush on grandchildren?"

"Don't back-sass me," Loki said, munching on the pretzel stick. Eindride rolled his eyes a little. "I referred to you as a small bundle of crying flesh at some point." Loki smirked when both Chris and Eindride glanced his way. "It's an accurate description." 

* * *

Elpis sat calmly in a large armchair, quietly, waiting. She hadn't seen who had taken her, had only found herself in a large room with several comfortable chairs, and no windows. Things felt different around her, and her hair was still wispy, but she no longer felt like her powers were slowly being snuffed out.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting." Elpis glanced up as a woman with black hair waked into the room. "I had some things to take care of. How are you feeling? Now that you aren't dying." Elpis narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"If you're waiting for my gratitude you won't get it." Elpis just crossed her legs at the knee. "Whatever you've done, I'm still going to die. That won't change."

The woman hummed a little and nodded. "Well, that's partially true. You will die, just possibly not right now. I've placed your body in a state of suspended time. I can't let the last phoenix pass through this universe without trying to do something about it."

Elpis narrowed her eyes, biting back her anger. "You don't know anything about what I am. Do you know what you've done by stopping this? What I will have to face now that you've interfered?" The woman just raised a thin eyebrow, blue eyes watching her with interest. "I will not be able to enter the fields where others are. I died, or still am dying, in a noble death. A Valkyrie was sent for me. But now because of you, I won't be able to go there, because it will look like I was trying to bend fate, to cheat death. That is the most abhorrent thing a phoenix can do. I will now be subjected to an eternity of torture because of you!"

"Hmm, yes, I've seen where that happens. It's not at all pleasant." Elpis growled loudly at the woman. she just shrugged. "A seemingly deathless bird, trying to selfishly keep a gift they were granted. Yes, I can see why the Fates would deem that unworthy. Anyway, on to the matters that I care about." The woman sat down in a chair facing Elpis.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I probably don't care about the same things you do." Elpis crossed her arms across her chest.

"Oh, I think you do," the woman smirked and Elpis tried not let a shiver run down her back. "Eindride Stark?" Elpis told her body not to react to the name. "He's supposed to the one who died, but you've been a little nuisance, or so I've been told. Anyway, you care about him, or else you wouldn't have died kissing him, or trying to heal him."

"You're not going to be able to blackmail me by threatening him." Elpis studied the woman, and her controlled emotions and expressions. "I know he can take care of himself, and he has other around to help. So whatever you want, you won't get it."

The woman let her long fingers stretch a little before the tips started to glow. Elpis sucked in a breath suddenly, and put a hand to her chest. Her palm came away wet with blood. "I can keep doing this without letting you die. And when I get my hands on the little Stark, after killing his parents of course, the pests that they are, I'll bring him here so that you can both watch each other die." Her fingers stopped glowing and Elpis panted a little as the pain of dying stopped again. "Because I know someone who has the power to restore his sight, just in time to watch the light leave your eyes." Elpis glanced over as Gjinir walked up from behind the chair.

"How do you know you'll even be able to reach him?" She looked back at the woman. "He was well protected before this happened."

The woman suddenly smirked and Elpis didn't shiver this time at the chill that went through her body. "Oh, I know Anthony and Loki very well. We're family after all. I'll be able to get to them."


	10. Chapter 10

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride turned in his bed the next morning, yawning a little as he woke up slowly. He was aware of a familiar signature of magic next to him on the bed and blinked a little. He turned to face the other direction and heard soft breathing next to him. "Emma?"

"I was hoping you'd wake up in the next twenty minutes," his older sister said from next to him. "I forgot how long you could sleep in."

"I've had a long couple of weeks," he said as he sat up. "Back from Jotunheim for a while?" He asked as he pushed himself to sit up in the bed.

"Yeah. I was getting ready to come back when I got a message form Uncle Thor." Eindride bit his lips a little when he felt Emma move closer to him. "I've put the message out to those that would listen. She sounds pretty awesome if she's able to whip your ass into shape."

"I didn't Need her around," Eindride grumped a little. Emma rubbed the top of his ear a little, like she used to when he would have bad dreams as a little boy.

"But you wanted her around, didn't you?" He let out a little sigh and she smiled slightly. "I haven't seen you take interest in anything, or anyone, like this since before the Great Fiasco seven years ago."

"I'm learning why I shouldn't have done so again," Eindride muttered. "This family seems to be cursed when it comes to good things. You lost Dani, and you practically live on Jotunheim. Sometimes I lose control of my powers and I hate not knowing whether or not it's safe to touch people. Do you know how stressful that is when I have to shake a shit ton of hands?" Eindride let himself flop back against the headboard of his bed. "And I lost my sight, I lost it because I was trying to help someone. It wasn't like it was karma, paying me back for being selfish or anything."

Emma started to rub his shoulders a little. "Have you ever taken the time to listen to dad when he starts to ramble?" Eindride shook his head in the negative. "Well, when Dad gets going, and starts to ramble, that almost non-existance brain to mouth filter he has, take a holiday, and he talks about anything and everything. Specially when he's working in the lab."

"Sometimes I feel like you ramble just like him," Eindride said to her and she snorted a little.

"No, I'm just like Dad, not Daddy," she said with a grin. "Kaia is like Daddy, and you are a perfect mix of the two. Which makes you the most dangerous." Eindride rolled his sightless eyes. "Anyway, there was a point to what I started to say. Sometimes Daddy talks about when he was younger, before he met Dad, even before the arc reactor." She moved her legs that were under his blankets and started to kick at his legs, pushing him out of the bed.

"Oi!" Eindride turned and started to kick at her legs. "This is my bed you brat!" Emma laughed as she started to spread out on the bed to keep him from claiming the space. He was closest to the edge and she was determined to get him out. "Em!" Eindride let out a yelp when his arms pinwheeled and he fell on his back.

"Hey! Look, you're out of bed!" She grinned and flopped forward to look over the edge of the bed at him.

"I don't believe for a second that you're older than me." Emma just grinned as he pushed himself up.

Twenty minutes later Eindride walked into Tony's workshop where the older man was looking at some information on a screen in front of him. He looked over when the door closed and blinked. "Hey kid, what's up?"

"Emma kicked me out of my bed," he said as he carefully made his way over to Tony. Tony pushed over a stool for him to sit on and made the screen smaller. "Have you been to bed?"

"Of course," Tony said as he leaned back in his chair, hands resting behind his head. "You think your Dad goes to sleep alone when he's pregnant? He needs someone to abuse when the baby kicks his internal organs." Tony smiled and Eindride shook his head. "It also means that I'm up at an ungodly hour every day.

"So that's why you were reluctant to put nap time to an end when I was younger," Eindride mused.

"Damn straight," Tony told him. "Everybody in the Universe could benefit from nap time." Tony watched his son, reading his face. He'd have to wait Eindride out, could see that something was on his mind and that he needed to ask Tony himself.

Tony was right, it took several minutes, the two sitting in silence, before Eindride spoke up. "You said, that you wanted me to talk to you. Uh, when, I got low or whatever..." He trailed off and Tony moved a little closer to him. Endride was silently grateful.

"You wanna go first, or do you want story time?" Tony offered right away. He knew this feeling that Eindride was going through. The circumstances weren't the same, but one thing that he had that Tony hadn't was a close family to help. He hadn't been nearly as close to his friends after the arc reactor happened.

"We're a family of bad luck, aren't we?" Eindride asked quietly. "I mean, I'm almost 30, and I've been through more than anyone twice my age has seen. Do we ever get happy endings?"

"Sure we do," Tony answered without hesitation. "Take your sister for example. After losing Dani she could have easily followed a very dark path, one that no one would have been able to pull her from. But she's on Jotunheim now, and she's smiling again, genuine smiles. Yeah, it means that another of my kids has left home, and that I don't get to see them that often, but I know that she's at least happy." Tony put his feet on Eindride's stool. "Kaia and Nathan will probably never have children, and they're down in Florida, Nathan running R&D operations down there, but I know they're happy."

"You thought you lost Dad for five years though, and you've almost died way too many times." Eindride let Tony push hims feet around gently with his own foot. "You're not remotely anything close to what you were born as anymore."

"Doesn't make me any less, Me." Tony shrugged a little. "Would I rather have never been through a lot of it? Yeah, sure, it hurt like hell and more." Tony leaned forward a little. "I used to think that karma was paying me back for how much of an absolute dick, and general horrible person I used to be when I was younger, like your age and younger." Eindride raised an eyebrow. "If I had been full human, my liver would have killed me before I was 35. I probably contributed to 10% of the worlds sales of alcohol. And don't get me started on all the people I slept with. Seriously, I was a dick."

Tony licked his lips a little and swallowed, preparing himself. "Then it changed, and I'm not proud of it, not in the least. It had to happen, of this I'm convinced now." He tapped the arc reactor and Eindride glanced in the direction of the sound. "The metal in my chest? It's my own. From one of the weapons that I helped create. They wanted me to make more, more weapons, and I told them no."

Tony had stopped moving his feet and Endride could almost hear his discomfort. He wondered what it had been like compared to what he had seen in Tony's head before. "Three months I was out in the desert, three months I was told to build a weapon, tortured." He shook his head out a little. "I made my own way out, back home, and thus Iron Man was born. I didn't come up with the name actually, but I like it. After that I never thought I'd be happy again, I'd never get any of the good stuff. I was too invested in trying to make up for what I had caused, for all the damage that came at the price of my name and business. My own personal mission."

"If you're trying to convince me of good things, you're doing a crummy job," Eindride mumbled. Tony's foot pushed on his knee gently. "I'm not hearing happy endings."

"Kid, I'm looking at one of my happy endings," Tony smiled a little, looking at Eindride. "I have a fucking family. I never thought I'd ever get one of those, a partner that actually Wants to stay with me? Kids that haven't turned out messed up like I was? Kids that I didn't ruin out of fear of becoming my father? Shit, that's the best thing I could ever ask for." Tony's eyes flickered over to the side. Loki had been sleeping on the couch at the back of the workshop, and saw that his eyes were open now, listening in.

"You know I always have JARVIS run simulations about scenarios?" Eindride nodded a little. "I started running those right after you were born. If I had turned down Thor when he brought Loki here as part of his punishment, well, first, I'd be dead. But, I would also still be alone, nothing would make me happy, that's for sure. There's a chance that the government would have gotten their hands on the suits, for good this time, and eventually would have just whittled away to nothing."

"So, what you're saying is that I inherited the shit gene from you?" Eindride asked and Tony let out a full bellied laugh.

"You inherited the shit gene from Both of us kid," Tony said through his laughter. "But, I'm convinced, that you also inherited the lucky gene from both of us as well."

Eindride chewed at his lip a little. "She made me happy," he said quietly. Both Loki and Tony were watching him, even if he didn't know Loki was there yet. "She actually made me forget that I didn't have my sight."

"It's because she didn't think that it made you different," Loki spoke up and Eindride turned his head quickly to look over. "I tried to kill your father only a year before we admitted we loved each other. Granted I'm sure that he's insane, but he didn't care."

Eindride took a deep breath, straightened his posture a little and nodded. "Alright," he said, nodding a little, mostly to himself. "Okay, so what I can do to help this go faster?" Tony smiled a little.

"You can find Emma again," Loki told him, sitting up on the couch. "She's going to use her magic to see if she can't find a magical trace of Elpis. And since she used some of the of her powers to help you Emma will need you."

"I can do that." Eindride stood up from the stool, making his way out of the workshop.

Loki pushed himself up from the couch and walked over to Tony, running his hand through Tony's hair. Tony closed his eyes as Loki's fingers gently rubbed at his scalp. His tense muscles slowly relaxed and he closed his eyes. "We need to talk about baby names soon," Tony mumbled. Loki hummed in the positive and rested his chin on top of Tony's head. 

* * *

Elpis looked around and found herself surrounded by darkness. She could tell she was dreaming, but it felt different. Turning around she saw a woman standing there, a soft, if not sad, smile on her face. She had long strawberry-blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and the finest clothes she had ever seen.

"It was hard to reach you here, but I'm glad that I was able too," the woman said to her.

"I know you," Elpis frowned a little. "From a very long time ago." The woman nodded.

"There are many trying to find you right now, you just need to hold out a little longer." Elpis blinked but nodded a little. "I can't stay long, but I needed to tell you not to give up, well, hope," she chuckled at a personal joke.

"Wait." Elpis took a step forward when the woman started to fade. "Who are you? How do I know you?"

The woman closed her eyes for a second before looking back at her. "When you remember, I only hope that you'll be able to forgive me for trapping you." Elpis frowned as he woman disappeared. She looked around and noticed that she was actually enclosed in something, walls around her.

Walking forward, Elpis put her hands out and felt wood under her fingers. Reaching up she felt metal that eventually formed into the shape of a hinge. Elpis frowned. A box? "Hope," Elpis murmured. She knew in that her name meant hope in Greek, but there was more to it.

Elpis blinked her eyes open to find herself still in the room from before. She needed to figure out what her dream meant, and if it was actually real or not. She hoped that it held some clues to getting free though.


	11. Chapter 11

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

It was late when Loki glanced up at the person who just appeared in his bedroom. Tony had fallen asleep with his head against Loki's back, a tablet in his fingers, but the future child of the two was kicking and keeping Loki up.

"Many have died for less than entering my bedchambers," Loki commented, looking back at the book in his hands.

"Many don't have the news that I have," Kasir said as he walked closer to the bed. "We haven't found Elpis yet, but we have a lead." Loki looked up at him, frowning a little. "It's not good news."

"No, it never is," Loki said and sighed. He took a breath and put the book down on the bedside table, his other hand resting on his stomach, and looked at the Seer.

* * *

Hela opened her eyes, smirking slightly, and pushed herself up from her spot on the floor. She thought that'd she'd have a little more time before someone would be able to sense that she was involved, but she was wasn't surprised. This just meant that she'd have to move a little more quickly than she thought.

Gjinir was still gone, getting his strength back, or making more poison. Hela didn't inherently care that much. She only needed him to district, and if possibly weaken, Loki and Tony while she crumbled their world around them. When the time was right she would personally deal the blow to Loki. She would repay him for losing her realm, for having her powers weakened, for forcing her into hiding. But for now she needed to get her little bird to an inspector.

Elpis looked at the man as he grinned, looking down at her. "Her death is in suspension," Hela told him from behind.

"That will do us no good," he said and reached out, letting some of her hair to slide between his fingers. Elpis narrowed her eyes at him. "I suppose you want me to fix that?" He glanced past her at Hela. "And what do I get in return?"

Hela grinned and her hands slid up Elpis's shoulders from behind. "The first bid on Pandora's Doron." Elpis frowned but didn't move her head. The man raised his eyebrows and turned his attention back to Elpis. Lifting her chin with his fingers he turned her head to look at her. He then placed one finger in the center of her forehead and she felt a wave of magic wash through her, finding that her limbs suddenly didn't want to move. She was frozen in place.

"Let's see what we can't find." The man rubbed his hands together. "I'm sure I can pull on the magic of her last ash, replicate that a few hundred time to extend her life." Elpis grit her teeth and tried to fight against the spell holding her in place, but the suspension of her death meant she couldn't pull on any of her phoenix powers.

He ran the flat of his hands down her stomach before he pulled up her shirt so he could get to bare skin, his hand stopping. His palm started to burn and Elpis sucked in a breath. He closed his eyes and started to push down on her skin. Elpis gasped loudly when his hand started to slide through her skin, but he was reaching into to grasp onto her entire being, her universal being. Her breathing became labored, erratic, and tears started to form in her eyes.

The mans eyes shot open and he looked at her then over at Hela and smiled. "This was unexpected. It's true?"

"Find out for yourself," Hela smirked a little. He slid his hand in further and grabbed at something. Elpis eyes widened then she let out a scream of agony when he tried pulling at it. She thought she heard other screams around her but then the pain rushed around her eyes, blocking out any other sound, a white light bursting in her vision.

When she opened her eyes she was looking up at the ceiling, arms around her body, someone above her. Her eyes dropped a little as she slumped in the arms around her, relaxing as she recognized the hand on her cheek. Eindride was there, finally.

* * *

With the news that Hela was involved, and Kasir coming to help, they were able to move faster. Eindride, Loki, Tony, and Kasir were ready to move, forcing Emma and Chris to stay at the Tower to wait for this. Eindride assured that them that now he knew what energy signature to look for he could find them.

He wasn't wrong. Eindride was able to pinpoint the general location, and Tony moved in first. He had his son and pregnant husband with him, Tony would be damned if he let anything happen to them. It was his connection to Loki that made him move to the side when a ball of energy flew past his face and into the wall, Hela glaring at him. Loki had to hold Eindride back when he first heard Elpis's screams, keeping them both from actually being in the direct line of fire.

"You're going to have fun with this one when it cracks," Hela smirked at Tony as they started to move around each other. "Be sure that I'll be there to see your failure, and to gather the pieces."

"Before you kill us right?" Tony forced her to circle away from Loki. He could feel the fury brimming at the edge of their connection. "That's what all good villains promise."

"I thought it went pretty well unsaid." The screaming in the room had stopped and Hela stopped moving. "I'll be watching with interest." Tony moved forward but her image turned into smoke before disappearing. Looking back Tony saw that Eindride had Elpis in his arms and Kasir had shoved the other other man to the ground.

Loki caught Tony's eyes and frowned a little. Tony just shrugged before letting out a sigh and walking back over to him. "We'll get back to the Tower and call Eir back down." Loki nodded a little and they both looked over as Elpis started to come too. Eindrde pushed of her hair back. "Sooner rather than later I think."


	12. Chapter 12

**A****/N:**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Eindride sat next to Elpis as they waited for Eir to show up. Kasir had taken the mysterious man back to Hel to try and get some information from him, and the spread word that they were now searching for Hela. Tony walked into the room with Eir, frowning. Elpis knew why.

"Even if I could, she would not be allowed into the fields now," Eir told him. "I'd rather not have to take her, but I feel that won't be necessary now."

"Alright, I'm confused," Tony said as he rubbed the side of his head. "Why is all this weird stuff my life?"

"When I die, I won't be able to find peace," Elpis started to explain, feeling a little better when Eindride pressed his leg against hers. "Phoenixes were given the agreement that they would be able to find peace if they agreed to not extend their lives anymore than they had. They wouldn't be forced to go to the in-between like other demons, but that also meant that if they messed with the laws they would also be forced to endure torture for eternity like others that are damned."

"When Hela took her, she put her death in stasis," Eir continued. "Because of that, no matter how it happened, she will be denied entrance to peace, and will instead be damned." Both Eindride and Tony had opened their mouths to protest, but Eir kept talking. "But something else has happened, and I don't think that will happen for a while now."

"Why doesn't it sound like this isn't actually a good thing?" Tony asked as Loki walked in the room behind him.

"Because I was given artificial Ashes," Elpis sighed out. "And the longer that I live because of the that, the worse it's going to be when I actually die."

"the longer you live the more time it gives to straighten out the situation," Tony argued. Elpis and Eir raised an eye at him. "What? I know a few things about cheating death, and I'm not about to let someone suffer because they were dealt a shitty hand."

"So eloquently put," Loki said, smirking a little. "Speaking of cheating death, I believe that we should let her ash now."

Eir hummed a little before walking over and helping Elpis up from the couch. "I can help with that."

"I think we should go to the roof, I'm not sure how volatile it will be because of this, and I'd rather not anyone get hurt." Elpis suggested.

"Volatile?" Eindride frowned as he pushed himself up.

"Phoenixes are literally reborn from flames," Eir told him as she held onto Elpis's arm. "It could be dangerous to those who are too close. Don't worry, she won't be hurt." She smiled a little at her oldest grandson and the two disappeared.

"Lucky for us, I have cameras and mics up on the roof," Tony said as they disappeared. "They just said we couldn't be too close," Tony said when he saw Loki's almost disapproving look.

"Loopholes are a fact of life," Eindride agreed as he sat back down, feeling Tony and eventually Loki settle on the couch as well. Tony offered his arm to Eindride, who understood and grasped his wrist, taking a breath before letting his magic flow and was able to see from Tony's eyes as well.

Tony held the StarkPad up as he searched for the correct camera, turning on the sound as well. The sound of wind was the first thing they could hear, and Eir was standing off to the side as something started to glow red in the middle of the roof. The glow started to reach up, the wind picking it up, swirling around what they had assumed was Elpis. The red started to rise, orange glowing, followed by yellow, like rising flames that licked around the air.

"I think I see what she meant by volatile," Tony murmured as they watched. Blue and purple started to spark in the center of the mini wind funnel, the colors starting to constrict, to wrap around the figure in the middle. There was a sudden burst or light and large wings unfolded, arcing up and around.

Eindride's eyes widened a little when the wind cleared and they could see Elpis, bringing her arms in as the wings started to disappear. Her hair was long and bright right, starting to settle against her back, her eyes bright and clear. Eir walked over to her as the wind died down, handing her something that looked like a small glass ball.

"It's from the Fates," she told Elpis. Both her eyes and Loki's eyes widened a little.

"What does that mean?" Eindride asked as they watched Elpis clutch it, holding it up slowly. Loki waved his hand, shushing him.

"Is this some cruel joke?" Elpis asked the Valkyrie. "Because it isn't funny, not in the least." Eir snorted but didn't say anything else, waiting for Elpis to look at it. It seemed to glow but they three watching didn't see anything else happen.

"She's been given a glimpse of what her future could hold," Loki started to explain, still watching. "The Fates generally don't get involved in any one person's life, but it seems they have made an exception. Depending on what they show her, this could be something incredibly fortuitous, or devastating."

"Because that's what we need right now," Tony muttered a little.

Elpis licked her bottom lip and looked at Eir. "Is this certain? This isn't something that they're going to take away?" Eir shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Do you know when this is going to happen?"

"I only know what you know," Eir told her. "What you chose to do with the information is up to you now." Elpis nodded a little and held the glass to her chest. "We should go back if you're feeling better now."

Eindride pulled his hand away when Tony stopped the feed, not wanting to get caught watching them. It wasn't long before Elpis walked back in the room, the ball gone along with Eir. "She said she'd be back later, she had to go back to Valhalla."

Eindride got up, moving towards her, and wrapped his arms around her. She felt warm again, and he hadn't been aware of just how much he missed the feeling. Elpis seemed to relax against him and he smiled. "Anders?" He blinked when he heard her call him. She had only called him Anders twice before, using his nickname in serious situation. "If you were able to get your sight back, would you?"

He blinked and pulled back a little, hands still on her arms though. "I'm not sure," he said slowly after a moment. "I guess it depends on the circumstances." Elpis took his hands and put them up by her face, his fingers starting to trace along her jaw.

"I didn't want to say anything before, because I wasn't sure it would work," she started quietly. "But, now that I am back to full power, I believe that I know of a way that I can return your sight." They both heard Tony cursing quietly in surprise. "I want you to think about it and consider it. I will accept your answer, whatever it may be."

"That is a big claim," Loki said, looking over at her.

"But not unfounded in the fact that i could accomplish it," she assured them. "I don't need an answer right now though. We have a few more important things to worry about at the moment, like-" she stopped when suddenly Eindride was kissing her. Closing her eyes, she practically melted into the kiss.

"Ewwww," Tony whispered and Loki hit his arm. He grinned and wrapped his arm around Loki's and turned them to leave the room. "Young love, in all it's disgusting forms." 

* * *

Elpis looked at the woman with strawberry-blonde hair again in her dream. "How did you know that they would find me when I needed them to?" She asked the woman. She simply smiled and held her hands together in front of her.

"Because that's what happens," the woman said. "Things happen at the last moment with you, sometimes. Bad things may happen, but then you are suitably rewarded for what has befallen you that is beyond your control."

Elpis frowned. "So I'm supposed to accept that bad things are going to happen to me? To those around me? And be okay with that because I'll get rewarded for it?" She let out a little huff and started to pace a little. "Well, I'm not okay with that. Is this the Fate's doing?"

"Unfortuantely, I think this goes beyond the Fate's." Elpis stopped to look at the woman. "Have you ever thought about what could be out there that created the Fates?" She pat Elpis's cheek once before Elpis woke up.


	13. Chapter 13

**A****/N: I'm evil. That is all. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

There was a knock on the door to the library and Loki looked over. He saw Elpis standing there and motioned for her to come in. "Chris and Alex went back home," she told him as she sat down across from the desk he had been sitting at. "Eindride and Tony are fully engrossed in something down in the lab." It had been two days since she had been returned to the Tower and they had continued with the normal day to day events while they waited and searched for any words on Hela and Gjinir or from Kasir and Anya.

"And yet, that's not what you brought over to the library," Loki said as he looked at her. She wrinkled her nose a little and he chuckled. "You're older than I am and yet you act like I have more power."

"Age has nothing to do with the amount of power someone has," she countered and Loki hummed a little. "And yes, that's not what brought me here. I wanted to ask what you knew about Pandora, and her Doron?"

Loki frowned a little as he thought. "Greek Pandora?" Elpis shrugged a little. "I would have thought that you'd know more about her, and her gift."

"Gift? You mean the fabled box?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Doron in Greek means gift," Loki explained. "Why do you ask?"

"It was something that Hela said," she told him. "She called me Pandora's Doron, but if it means gift I don't understand what that means."

Loki blinked a little and looked at Elpis as he thought. He found it odd that she was asking him about Pandora when she obviously would have been alive during that time. "Well, from ancient times, according to mortals, Doron could be used to mean any number of things. A wife or husband, children, grandchildren, or even some kind of gift that was precious to the person. I doubt that she was referring to the box if he used it in that way though."

"Why so?" Elpis asked, curious.

"Everyone knows that Pandora's box was destroyed thousands of years ago, during the aftermath of what she released when she opened it." Loki shrugged a little. "I never met her in person, I wasn't alive at the time, so I don't know for sure about the family that she had."

"So you think that Hela was talking about family? Maybe someone close to Pandora?" Loki nodded. Elpis started to run her fingers through the ends of her braided hair. "Do you know anyone who might have known her? Or anything about her family?"

"Other than yourself?" Loki raised an eyebrow.

Elpis shook her head. "I was in the middle of ashing during her time, so I wasn't technically around. It had been a particularly long ash."

"I'm sure I could put out the word. Kasir's father would possibly know." Elpis nodded a little. "Before you go though, I'm rather very interested in how you would be able to-" They both stopped and stared at each when there was a slight rumbled through the floor. "JARVIS?"

"It would appear that Sir and Eindride have caused an accident in the lab," the AI replied in a relaxed tone that cause Loki to sigh. "I would recommend a workshop lock down."

Loki hummed annoyed as he pushed himself up from the chair, Elpis following suit. "You're lucky," Loki told her as they headed for the elevator. "When we go collect them and tell them that they can't play any more today, you won't have to go to sleep with your Stark." Elpis snorted and tried to hide her smile.

When they reached the workshop they saw that the vents were removing the last of the smoke from the room and both Tony and Eindride were sitting on the floor, back against a table, giggling at each other. The door opened for the two and they walked in to hear the high pitched sounds. Tony looked up and grinned extending his arms and wiggling his fingers. "Lolo!" The two on the floor started to giggled harder.

"There was a miscalculation in the antidote they have been working on," JARVIS supplied for Loki and Elpis. "Several non-lethal chemicals combined to cause their current status."

Tony pointed at Elpis. "Hope! Your name means Hope in Greek. You're Hope Hope!" Tony giggled into his hands as Eindride fell to his side laughing.

"Okay, it's time to leave the lab," Elpis said as she moved forward first. "I think maybe a cold shower is needed too."

"Naked shower?" Tony asked hopefully and both Elpis and Loki snorted.

"Daaaaaaaad," Eindride drawled out as Elpis tried to slide his arm around her shoulders to get him up. "Not yeeeeeeet! We only kiss!" Elpis groaned and rolled her eyes. Tony blinked watching them and then looked up at Loki.

"Oh no, you are beyond insane if you think for a moment that I will be bending down like that, with this," Loki put his hand on his stomach. "You will either have to ask Elpis to help you up, or manage it on your own." Tony started to pout, making his eyes as wide as possible. Loki returned the look with narrowed eyebrows, face stern. He made s light whining noise and Loki rolled his eyes, still not moving. "Sometimes i wonder if this is actually still part of my punishment for trying to destroy your pitiful planet." Tony started in on another round of giggling. 

* * *

The next day Tony groaned as he padded out to the living room. The effects of the chemicals had left him dead to the world while he slept, but made him groggier than usual when he woke up. Loki was sitting at the Island in the kitchen, watching as the shorter man lumbered into the kitchen. "Sleep well?" Tony shot him a glare and Loki just smiled.

"You look like shit Stark." Tony turned his head to see Lee and Clint sitting there, watching him.

"So do you," Tony mumbled as he poured himself some coffee. "Both of you do."

"We just finished a mission," Lee said, smiling none the less. "What's your excuse?"

"He doesn't have a valid one," Loki said before Tony could answer. "He didn't feel this child kicking all night, despite my best attempts to make him."

Tony let out a little groan before leaning against the counter. He looked at the three people at the island, then raised an eyebrow. The mood was light and airy, and happy. "What happened? Something's happened." He looked over and saw Lee and Clint sitting practically in each others laps. "You two," Tony pointed. "What did you do?"

"Ah yes, if you had been awake earlier you might have heard the good news," Loki said, leaning back in his chair. "It would seem that our two spies have gone and eloped on their last mission." Tony stared before his eyes widened a little. "It seems after their mission was completed and they were traveling on their way home they made a pit stop, where was it again?"

"Ireland," Lee said with a smile, sipping on her tea. "Where we were married by a very friendly old priest, and decided to stay for two weeks for a honeymoon." Clint had leaned back, smiling into his cup, arm resting on the back of Lee's chair.

"It was very nice, and we didn't have to make a big show out of it, and we plan on having a reception here later for everyone," Clint added. Tony stuttered a little, in a small state of shock. Before he was able to say anything they heard shuffling feet coming their way. Elpis was pushing Eindride into the kitchen, the younger Stark looking exactly like Tony.

"I'm not dealing with this on my own," Elpis said, not noticing Clint and Lee at first. "He's whiny and moaning, and won't leave me alone until he feels better."

"Did they get married too?" Elpis jumped a little when Clint spoke. Tony and Loki snorted.

"No, she's his personal assisstant," Loki told them. "Elpis, this is Clint and Lee. I don't believe you've been properly introduced to them before."

"No, but I've heard about you since working for him." She smiled at them and turned to offer her hand until she suddenly stopped, looking up and past them. The two agents were on alert when they noticed the change in her demeanor. Before she could say anything something metal started to roll across the floor into the kitchen and everyone had started moving. Tony jumped over the counter to grab Loki and Elpis was moving to grab Eindride as Clint grabbed Lee to pull them both back away. There was no warning when it stopped in the middle of the room and there was a hiss as it released a cloud of gas.

"JARVIS vents!" Tony shouted immediately, coughing when he got a lungful of the gas. He and Loki had been closest the gas cloud before the vents started to whir to life, both breathing it in. Elpis had pushed Eindride's shirt over his nose before moving quickly out of the room. He swore he saw her hair start to glow.

Tony gasped and arched his back in pain suddenly. He rolled away from Loki and landed on his back, his muscles tightening, eyes closing in pain. Loki hunched over, hands on his stomach as he hissed out in pain. Clint and Lee moved over to the two, the room quickly clearing from the chemical attack.

"What the hell happened!" Clint was pushing down on Tony's shoulders to keep him from thrashing and accidentally hitting Loki.

Eindride moved his shirt and winced a little when he took a breath. He let out a deep breath and moved as close a he dared. "It's a poison meant to hurt Fae, I recognize it. Dad was working on an antidote, but it's not ready yet."

Loki let out a whine in his throat as he tried to hunch over further. Lee had grabbed onto his arms and was trying to keep him from hurting himself. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know," Eindride frowned. "I usually have to ride it out, but I've never encountered it in a gas form."

There was a thump from the side as Elpis threw someone into the room, putting her foot on his back. Gjinir started to laugh and Eindride tensed a little. "Tell us how to stop it," Elpis growled, leaning down to put a knee by his neck.

"I can't," he grunted out. "This is a new form, and it's quiet interesting to watch." He made a face when Elpis applied more pressure, the ends of her hair starting to wisp into flames. "Although I'm very interested to see how it affects the child."

Tony growled and tried to move, gasping for air as pain shot through his limbs. Lee helped Loki lay on his back. He opened his eyes and she was a little shocked to see the pain he was feeling so open to see. "It's ki-killing h-her," he gasped out. Lee's eyes widened and she looked at Clint. "Sh-she's dy-dying."


	14. Chapter 14

**A****/N: I'm evil. That is all. :)**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

"What can we do to stop this?" Lee looked between Clint and and Elpis. "We need to stop this, something needs to happen."

Eindride had pulled himself over, sitting on his knees behind Loki. "Dad? There has to be something we can do." He couldn't just sit there and listen as something that should have been kept in his memories hurt his parents and was potentially killing his unborn sibling.

Loki took a deep breath as he tried to concentrate through the pain. "I'll have a few moments," Loki said, trying not to let his words stutter. "The only way to save her, is to give her to another." Eindride and Lee frowned a little. Elpis glanced over at them as they spoke. "I can no longer carry her if we wish her to live. Someone will need to willingly take her as their own."

"When you say as their own?" Clint started to ask, helping Tony move into a more comfortable position to ride out the effects of the gas.

"She will be theirs in all ways, genetically as well." Loki groaned in pain, shutting his eyes tightly as another wave of pain wracked his body. "It's the only way to stop this, she can't be part Fae." Tony reached his hand out and took Loki's, giving it a squeeze. "It'll have to be done quickly-"

"I'll do it," Lee said quickly. Clint turned his head to look at her as Loki opened his eyes. "I'll do it, if it'll save the baby."

"We'll do it," Clint corrected her. His eyes were a little wide at the quick decision, but if they were the only chance at saving a baby, he wouldn't second guess it.

Loki nodded a little, holding onto Tony's hand. "Take one of her hands," he said to Clint as he took Lee's other hand, his hand starting to glow.

Elpis watched it all start to happen, then felt the slight movement of the man under her knee and tried not to growl too loudly. He was smiling and laughing at the situation. Grabbing the collar of his shirt she hauled him up to stand in front of her and started to pull him from the room. "the show was about to get started."

"JARVIS, please tell me that there are holding cells in this tower," Elpis asked as they headed towards the elevator.

"I shall take you to them, Miss Hope," the AI replied, sounding as determined as her. She was positive after all this time JARVIS was very much sympathetic to Tony and Loki's feelings and what happened to them. If he so wanted he'd kill Gjinir as much as everyone else would probably want to, including Elpis.

"Are you going to torture me now?" Gjinir started to taunt. "Will you let your fires consume me as you had promised before hand?"

"Oh, you will know what my fire feels like," Elpis told him. "but not until I've gotten what I want from you. I don't think I'm the one that you should be worried about, though." She told hi as the elevator stopped moving. They were greeted with a grey hallway that had several doors. She didn't want to know why Tony would have felt the need to make a floor like this with rooms for this, but was glad right now that he had. 

* * *

Tony lowered himself slowly on the couch, silently, next to Loki. He reached out and slid his hand underneath Loki's, turning it so their palms met and he was able to lace his fingers with Loki's. It had taken several hours for the pain his in muscles to wear off enough so he could move, knowing he had breathed in more of the chemical than Loki or Eindride.

He let Loki leaned against his arm, not saying anything, noting how Loki kept his other hand consciously at his other side, no where near his now flat stomach. "You know," Tony started after several moments of silence. "I've been thinking. Where's my special note from the fates?" Loki raised an eyebrow slightly, not looking at him though. "I mean. I got a piece of unstable machinery put in my chest, and I changed and all that shit. Then I even managed to get a family, get a little happy you know, and shit keeps happening. I want my piece of good news."

"You don't believe in the Fates, Tony," Loki told him quietly.

"Well, maybe not when I was younger, and before I met you," Tony started.

"Even after we got together," Loki corrected him. "They probably don't feel the same way that you feel."

"Then where's is your 'We're sorry' note?" Tony turned his head a little to look at Loki. He could see the older immortal staring out of the window at the darkening horizon. "You've been through more shit than I have, and you believe in them."

"Tony," Loki said, barely audible, sounding exhausted. Tony tried not to frown. He didn't like seeing this Loki. The Loki that had been beaten down, stripped down to raw emotions, the fire in his soul down to bare whisper. Tony wrapped his arms around him suddenly, pulling Loki into his chest. Loki didn't try to fight it and Tony closed his eyes tightly as he rested his cheek against the top of Loki's head.

"We're going to get through this," Tony said quietly. "That's how we do this. Shit happens, and we work through it, together. Things could have been so much worse." He could practically feel the constriction in Loki's chest as he tried to fight back his tears. Even after so many years together Loki still hated showing so many emotions in front of Tony.

"Knowing the child was once ours? That it's going to be raised part of another family? Knowing that she-" Loki choked back his words, pressing his face into Tony's shirt.

"She could have died," Tony replied softly. "Then no one would have had the joy of a child around. I'm not happy about this either, fuck, I don't know how I'm not going crazy right now." He ran his hand through Loki's hair. "But, at least we know who she went to, we know what they're like, we know that they will take care of her, and love her, and will never treat her with any less than the love that we would have given her." He gripped at Loki's shirt to try and stop the slight shake in them. He took a breath. "We have each other, and we will get through this." Tony told him again, and Loki nodded once into his chest.


	15. Chapter 15

**A****/N: Little bit of fluff**  


**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Steve had his arm wrapped around Gabby's as they stood in front of the apartment door. He was waiting for her to knock, waiting for her to be ready to meet the newest addition to their family. She hadn't been faced with a baby since before they lost their own seven years ago, and he could see that she hadn't forgotten about it. After another moment she let out a breath and knocked. Steve took her hand and kissed the top of her knuckles, giving her an encouraging smile.

The door opened and Chris grinned when he saw them, moving to hug Steve first then Gabby, kissing her cheek. "Hey you two, your timing is perfect." He opened the door for them to come in, taking the two overnight bags from them. "She just woke up and we gave her her meds, so she's ready for some attention."

"Now the attention part sounds like you when you were little," Steve said with a grin as Chris rolled his eyes. They walked into the living room and saw Alex still in his hospital scrubs, holding a small bundle in his arms. He looked up and smiled at them.

"Looks like your grandparents are going to steal you from me little one," Alex said as he stood up from the couch as Gabby and Steve came over. Steve gave Gabby the chance to get closer to Alex, letting him slide the little girl into her arms. Her eyes were wide and she looked up at Gabby, her hands in fists as she waved them a little.

"Hello," Gabby smiled at her. "You're still pretty small aren't you? Well, that's okay." Gabby reassured the little girl as she moved to sit in the new rocker the boys had bought for the apartment. "Because big things come in small packages, just like your Grandpa, and even your Great Uncle Tony. He's short, and you should never let him forget it."

"She's evil," Chris muttered and Steve grinned. "She's going to corrupt our child."

"Didn't you know?" Steve looked up at the couple. "That's what Grandparents do. We spoil the child then hand them back before shit hits the fan in the way sugar rushes." Chris made a noise and put his face into Alex's shoulder. "You two look remarkably rested for new parents."

"She just came home a few days ago," Alex admitted. "Admittedly she learned how to sleep through the night in NICU. She's generally not a loud baby, mostly because of the asthma."

"Luckily she only has to have two breathing treatments a day though," Chris added in. "She takes them like a champ though."

Steve studied to two men and nodded a little. "Yeah, she's already got you wrapped around her little fingers." They both raised their eyebrows and Steve chuckled. "It doesn't take super powers to see new parents. It fits you two." The three briefly listened to the story that Gabby was telling little Mia about Chris when he was her age.

"How are things going?" Chris asked his dad after a few minutes. "We haven't heard much after Eindride called us last week to tell us about Uncle Loki and Aunt Lee." Steve nodded slowly.

"Things have,... Well, they've been going. That's about best as I can put it." Chris wrinkled up his nose a little. "They still have Gjinir, but neither Tony or Loki have gone to see him. they eventually gave in to having company when Clint practically begged for help one night when Lee was having cravings." Alex snorted a little as Steve talked. "Even Loki couldn't let him go through that much pain without help. They're good actors as they slowly come to terms."

"No further word on the antidote, or your condition?" Alex asked him and Steve just shook his head. "Not too surprising. Things like that usually take years with regular Doctors. I would expect another two months at least for one of those things with Tony and Eindride working on it."

"One day at a time." Steve smiled as they heard a delighted squeal and saw a wide grin cross Gabby's face. 

* * *

"Loooooooooooo," Tony let out the whine, holding onto Loki's wrist. Loki was sitting on the couch, one leg folded under the other as Tony held leaned back on her heels. Loki idly wondered how hard he would hit the floor if he managed to make Tony's hand slip from his wrist.

"If I go with you will you stop whining?" Loki raised an eyebrow. Tony eagerly nodded his head. Loki smirked a little and suddenly let Tony's weight pull him up. Loki went into a standing position easily then stopped and Tony went flying, flailing really, onto the floor on his back. He blinked his eyes open wide and Loki let out a snort of laughter.

"Now that was just Cruel," Tony groaned out. He pushed himself up from the floor and Loki offered a hand to help him up, smirk on his face. He grabbed Loki's hand and as he was pulled up he used the momentum to bring him up to Loki, planting a kiss on his lips. "That helps. Now come on."

Loki let him pull him towards the elevator, and even waited for the doors to close before asking where they were headed. "You know I'm not generally a fan of surprises."

"And you know that I've generally ignored that." Tony grinned at him. "We've got like two more weeks until the twins come back from their summer camp, and we've needed something like this for a while now. Everything is in the hurry up and wait stage, so I've decided to take a personal moment." Loki raised an eyebrow and the elevator stopped moving. "So, I've set up-" Tony had started to pull Loki out of the elevator, onto the roof, then stopped when they heard a laugh.

Turning Tony saw Eindride and Elpis already on the roof of the building, sitting on the generators, right by the table that he had set up for him and Loki. The two stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to look at Tony and Loki. The two older men blinked a little when they saw a long, and fully feathered, tail wrapped around Elpis, feather fading from blue and purple into red and gold at the ends.

"Really?" Tony puffed out. He saw the glasses of wine sitting on the table. "You even opened my Eiswein?" Tony pouted a little. Loki snorted from behind, resting his chin on Tony's shoulder. "I got you Eiswein, I know it's your favorite. And I even made little mini banana cream pies."

"They were really good," Eindride threw in, smiling a little. The two of them had almost finished off the bottle of ice wine, and their cheeks were a little flushed.

"We wondered why this stuff was up here," Elpis threw in, her phoenix tail twitching a little.

"It's the thought that counts right now," Loki said, dropping a little kiss on Tony's neck. "Specially when I can see it being consumed by our son and his pet." Elpis made a high pitched noise that made Loki smirk. "Come on, we'll go back down and make our own pies, and I can freeze some grapes." Tony tried to pout as Loki pulled him back to the elevator. When the doors closed Loki turned the shorter man around to face him, kissing him.

"We're not going to go to the kitchen are we?" Tony smirked a little, wrapped his arms around Loki's waist.

"Hmmm, no I don't think so," Loki shook his head. "I'll admit, I'm a little turned on by the thought of you in the kitchen."

Tony suddenly grinned, pressing himself closer to Loki. "Picturing me in a little white apron? Just a little white apron?"

"I think we actually did that one time," Loki hummed in thought, a smile on his face. "I think you managed to get flour of your ass."

"I think that flour was in the shape of a hand," Tony amended. "A hand with really long fingers."

"I wouldn't complain too much," Loki pointed out, kissing him slowly, arms wrapped around Tony's shoulders. "It earned you a blowjob if I remember correctly." Tony just grinned.

"I could return the favor," Tony suggested as Loki started to move him backwards from the elevator.

"I think we can work out an agreement." Loki nipped at Tony's bottom lip, growling a little, almost causing Tony to trip backwards.


	16. Chapter 16

**A****/N: Short note, Eiswein, amazing. It's Ice Wine, where the grapes are picked during a frost, making the wine not exactly rare, but not so widely available like other wines. I've had some, I want some more. :)**  


******And now for a little bit of torture. Next chapter will be some more fluff.**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

The elevator carried four people down to the basement levels, Tony and Loki standing in front of Eindride and Elpis. The two younger ones had finally managed to earn themselves back in Tony's graces after drinking his wine on the roof the week before. Loki had been amused by the whole process, watching them trying to get Tony to talk to them, then talk to them without bringing up the wine and pies.

They figured that now it was time to actually do something with Gjinir. Elpis was holding onto the container that had the same yellow magic in it that she had pulled from Eindride and Chris several months ago.

"We can't stay down here too long," Loki said as they stepped off into the hallway. "People are coming over for dinner." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"People? Was I supposed to know about this?" Tony didn't like when he forgot things, especially things that Loki had told him. Loki shook his head no, so he relaxed a little. "What people?"

"Not that important right now," Loki told him as they approached the door to the cell Gjinir was in.

Elpis let Loki and Tony walk in first before looking at Eindride. "You're positive about this? I can't guarantee that it will be-"

"I'm sure," he nodded before putting a hand out to push open the door. They both walked in and Tony was leaning a shoulder against the wall. Loki was crouched in front of Gjinir who had been sitting cross legged on the floor, hands bound behind him.

"We decided that you two should do what you were going to do first," Tony told them. "Last time Loki and I were down here things, happened." Eindride and Elpis frowned a little. "I never said we were good people." They all looked over to Loki and Gjinir, both not moving, not making a sound, just staring at each other. They couldn't see Loki's face but they could see the uncertainty flash through the other mans eyes. Loki suddenly stood up and walked over to Tony, sweeping an arm out to let them know it was their turn.

Elpis held onto the container and got down on her knees, a few feet away from Gjinir. He looked up and saw Eindride, smirking a little. "I always wondered what my spell had done to you," he said quietly, voice raspy from not using it. "Losing your sight, that's interesting, considering it was intended to kill the Asgardian." Eindride didn't move, but was suddenly less interested in what exactly Loki and Tony were going to do afterwards, and felt okay with that.

"So, I pulled this from your first visit," Elpis started, ignoring what he had seen. "I found it very interesting how you had used it to travel here." Gjinir raised an eyebrow. "You managed to find your own powers, left over from the spell, and created a mental connection through dreams. You let the power build up and used both men to make your appearance possible."

"It took a long time to craft the spell." Gjinir looked back at Elpis. "I'm quite proud of it."

Elpis hummed a little, nodding once. She opened the container and pulled out a wisp of the power like it was cotton candy, before closing it again. "Well, I'm going to do some of my own spell weaving. I just wanted you to see it, and feel it of course." She looked at him as he raised an eyebrow. "Reversing something as convoluted as what was done to Captain Rogers is not going to be an easy thing." She started to pull at the piece of power, stretching it out like taffy, looping it around her fingers. "But, luckily I've got the source power right here."

"You wouldn't dare," Gjinir hissed out, glaring at her. "You know exactly-"

"How much it will hurt the caster?" She raised her own eyebrow at him. "Yes, yes I do know. And honestly, I don't think it's enough pain, but it's a start." She heard three snorts behind her. "They agree." She started to twist the strands together, molding it in her hands. "It took me a while, but I managed to break down all your little spells. All. Of. Them." Elpis suddenly flattened the power between her palms and the power hardened into a medallion. She flipped it up a little, let it land on the floor before bringing a fist down on it, crushing it like glass. Gjinir suddenly let out a shout of pain and hunched forward.

The shards of the medallion floating into the air gently before disappearing. The foreign sorcerer let out another strangled cry of pain until all traces of the power were gone. His breath was heavy as he looked up under his the lids of his eyes, glaring at Elpis. She didn't stop what she was doing as she pulled out another wisp of power from the container. This time Eindride walked over and crouched down next to her.

"This one, since it had set in so deeply, was a little harder to figure out," Elpis started talking as she stretched the power longer than before. "I need to know exactly how you formed the spell, and obviously you would never tell us how you did it, and I wasn't there, so how to figure that out?" Eindride's fingers had started to glow a light red. "Did you know that part of his Asgardian powers is to be able to tap into the memories of others? Really handy when I need to know how a spell was performed."

Eindride put a hand on Elpis's arm and the other on Gjinir's shoulder. They were suddenly vaulted into his memories, flashing back. There was a younger looking Chris and Eindride standing in the office. Gjinir was walking over to them, watching with a slight interest as Eindride started to work a spell on his magical effects. They all felt the pain of Chris's punch to the jaw. Elpis latched onto the thoughts that created the spell, the spell that was crafted with an uncalculated amount of pain to kill Chris.

Elpis and Eindride fell back a little as Gjinir rocked back the opposite way as Eindride pulled them out. "You are disgusting," Eindride growled out as he caught his breath. He could still feel the malicious intent from the spell.

"It was your disgusting Fae blood that saved you from that fate," Gjinir spit back at him. "It should have done worse to you. Elpis tried to ignore them as she rolled the spell in her hand, slipping it into a small vial. She grabbed the container and picked it up, and her and Eindride stood up.

"We're done with him," Eindride told Tony and Loki as they turned towards the door. Loki glanced at Elpis, then back to Eindride. "Just make it hurt." Later he would pay attention to the amount of venom in his son's voice. He would notice the utter indifference that he had for the man's life. But that was later, when Loki wasn't already intent on inflicting the torture and pain that all of them in the room wanted.

"What's the plan?" Tony asked his husband when Eindride and Elpis left the room.

"We're 40 feet underground, correct?" Loki asked and Tony nodded. He looked at Gjinir. "I think that I'll show him some of the abilities of the Fae. Specifically the Tear. Slowly, of course, so that he appreciates the intricacies of our powers." Later Tony wouldn't reflect on how utterly okay he was with watching Loki torture the man in the room. He wouldn't be bothered by it, not after this man was responsible for hurting his son, and for taking away their daughter from them.


	17. Chapter 17

**A****/N: **  


******And now for a little bit of torture. Next chapter will be some more fluff.**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Gabby snuffled her nose a little and tried to keep her eyes closed. Little Mia had worn her out and she wanted to sleep a little longer before round two. She smiled at the arms that tightened around her and turned to push her face into the familiar chest-

Her eyes shot open suddenly and she looked at her sleeping husband. The husband that was taller than her again. She let out a gasp and sat up, or at least tried to. Steve's strong grip pulled her back down to the bed and she grunted a little.

"Steve!" She hissed out and wiggled around in his arms. He didn't move and she bit her lip a little before she moved leg up, her knee rubbing his his leg, until she suddenly shoved her cold foot in between his legs. His eyes popped open as he squeaked.

"You said you wouldn't do that again!" Steve frowned and looked down at her. He stopped and blinked looking at his arms, then turned and lifted the blankets looking down. "Hey!" Gabby rolled her eyes but smiled.

"You know what this means?" Gabby practically purred, moving her mouth to his neck and kissing up. Steve shivered a little and closed his eyes. "Now that you're big Steve again, that means," she paused to nibble on his ear. "That means I can be on top again." She flailed and squeaked when she was suddenly shoved from the bed. "I thought it was funny." 

* * *

Eindride sat on the bed, back against the headboard, and took a deep breath. Elpis was sitting next to him, holding the spell in her hand. "It's probably going to hurt," she said softly and he nodded.

"It probably won't hurt nearly as much as it did the first time," he told her. "Let's just do it now, the sooner the better."

"I'll stay here until we know if it works." She leaned over to ruffle his hair with her fingers a little. "You're going to need a haircut soon, it's getting fluffy." He snorted and she moved a little as he pushed himself down to lay down on the bed. Turning she pulled his head to rest on her legs that she had crossed. "We'll have to ask Dr Banner to come and look at your eyes when this is done," she said as she pulled out the vial with the spell in it.

"Uncle Bruce will just complain that he's not that kind of doctor," Eindride said and folded his hands over his stomach.

"After this much time he should be." Eindride snorted as Elpis smiled a little. She opened the vial and spilled the spell into her hand like it was liquid. Taking a breath she spread it over his eyes, letting it seep in. It didn't take long for it to start to work, she felt his body tense when it started. Reaching down she grabbed his hands to keep them from getting up to his eyes. Elpis started to hum like she did for his dreams, hoping to distract him from the pain that was starting to run through his body. She'd sit there until he opened his eyes again. 

* * *

Tony sat next to Clint, Lee across from him, and Loki across from him with Tony's foot in his lap. Loki was able to glean that Tony was a little turned on from what happened downstairs, and he was going to make Tony suffer through this dinner. Tony tried not to be eve more turned on by how cruel Loki was being to him, sexually at least.

The four had finished dinner, or at least Lee had finished what Clint and Tony hadn't finished, and Tony refused to moved from the table. "Have the hormones hit the roller coaster level yet?" Tony asked Clint as he started to rub his socked foot against Loki's thigh slowly. Loki didn't react.

"Is there a safe answer to that?" Clint asked. Tony snorted and Lee and Loki rolled their eyes. "Her different moods are noticeable, specially when she has some weird cravings."

"Still citrus covered in frosting?" Loki glanced over at Lee, ignoring how Tony's foot had moved to the inside of his thigh.

"And lemon juice in my orange juice," she nodded. Loki smiled a little. "I take it that's normal?" She chuckled when both Loki and Tony nodded. "Oh good. The only thing I'm not a fan of is this constant need to pee all the damned time, excuse me." She scrunched her nose a nose as she pushed her chair out to get up.

"I think I'm prepared to wake up in the middle of the night now because she gets up all the time." Clint watched Lee leave the room before looking over at Tony when he yelped. Tony was leaning down a little, rubbing his ankle, while Loki just smiled. "I just wanted to say that although the circumstances were never anything that should have happened, we have to let you know how much we're happy you let her carry the baby." Both Tony and Loki raised an eyebrow at the obvious nervous tone in Clint's voice. "Give me my serious moment, Stark."

Tony just raised his hands in surrender. "I, for one," Loki started, "am at least glad that there was someone around that I could trust."

"I know she'll never say anything, and she'll have my head if she knows I told you, but we've talking about having a baby for a couple years." Clint rolled his neck in a nervous gesture. "And we've been trying, but we found out we can't actually, you know, make one."

They heard Lee's footsteps coming back towards the room and a plate appeared between Loki and Lee's place, just as a golden apple and a knife appeared in his hands. The plate had a little saucer of frosting on it along with some lemon and grapefruit slices. Clint saw the apple and frowned before raising his eyebrows when Loki started to cut some slices out of it.

"Whatever is on the table, smells amazing," Lee called out when she walked back over to the table. Loki placed a couple of slices on the plate and she grinned. "That's it, that's the smell." Loki smiled and grabbed a slice for himself before tossing the rest of the apple to Clint.

"Give her a few more slices and you shouldn't have anymore problems." Lee blinked a little at Loki as she dunked the apple slice in the frosting. Tony grinned and put both his feet in Loki's lap now. He was even more turned on, and if Loki wasn't careful, dinner was about to get awkward.

Until Loki pushed his feet and Tony's entire chair tipped and fell back. Tony's eyes were wide in shock as he tumbled from the chair onto the floor. Clint and Lee were laughing and Loki just continued to eat his apple slice.


	18. Chapter 18

**A****/N: There's a tiiiiiiny bit of hints and actions of sex in this chapter. Nothing too graphic, but everyone is different. But you have been warned!**  


******And now for a little bit of torture. Next chapter will be some more fluff.**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki was slowly waking up, but he wasn't sure why. By all rights after dinner last night he and Tony should be fast asleep for at least 12 hours. Of course if he had known that the torture and giving Lee a golden apple of Idunn were going to turn Tony on that much he would have started doing a regular regime of the actions.

Something fluttered against his neck and he lamely batted at it with his hands, too tired to open his eyes and give it attention. Until his hand smacked into something. The yelp that followed told him he had smacked Tony's face.

"How are you awake?" Loki grumbled, turning his face into the pillow. "After last night you should be comatose."

"You plagued my dreams," Tony murmured as he started to kiss the back of Loki's neck, wrapping his leg around Loki's. "This is all your fault, I'll have you know." Loki snorted and Tony grinned. He wrapped an arm around Loki's waist and pulled him back against his chest. Loki made a nose and started to try and wiggle back to his spot on the bed. "I thought maybe I could wake you, then we could take a shower, and try to wake up more."

"I'm fairly certain that I did not put anything in the food last night to make you this horny." Loki was smirking, with his back still to Tony. He could clearly feel Tony enthusiasm against his lower back, but was interested to see how long he keep denying Tony before he did something about it.

"I imagine if you had, then you would have gotten no sleep last night," Tony said against Loki's skin.

"Your promises leave much to be desired." Loki smirked a little when Tony bit down on his neck. "Hmm, were you doing something?" He faked a yawn and tried to snuggle into his pillow. "Let me know when you decide to get up and make breakfast. I think that-" Loki let out a little gasp when he suddenly felt probing finger slide up his thighs.

"I think that you are talking entirely too much right now," Tony told him dipped two fingers inside of his mouthy husband. "There are a couple of things that you be using that mouth for."

Loki let out a breath as he squirmed a little. "You're unusually dominant this morning." He moaned when Tony pushed in a little further, adding a third finger.

"It's not that unusual, and are you complaining?" Tony smirked as he started to nibble on Loki's ear, drawing more moans from the god. "If only the people of Jotunheim could hear their King now-Ow!" He took a breath as Loki had kicked back, landing his heel on Tony's knee.

"Sir? There's a call from Captain Rogers coming in." Tony groaned a little when JARVIS spoke. "This is actually the second time that he has called."

"Killin the moment J," Tony grumbled.

"I would also inform you both that Dr Banner will be arriving to the Tower within the hour, at the request of Miss Hope," the AI continued.

Both Loki and Tony sighed. "Moment sufficiently killed. Might as well take the call." They both flopped onto their backs as the call connected over the speakers. "Aren't you supposed to be with this new grandbaby? Getting played with adorable eyes and what not?"

"Jealous much?" They heard Gabby's voice first and Tony rolled his eyes.

"In the gesture of full disclosure, I'll have you know that I was about to fuck my husband." Tony grinned at the twins sounds of disgust from both Gabby and Steve. Loki let his lips turn up at the sound as well. "So why are you calling so early?"

"Tony, it's almost noon," Steve grumbled out. "We were calling to ask how you figured it out."

"Gonna have to be a little more specific, Cap," Tony glanced over as Loki start to move to the edge of the bed, admiring his bare back. "How did I figure out the secret to pleasuring my husband and making him pregnant?"

"I so don't need to hear any of this," they heard Gabby mumble.

"God, no, Tony." They can practically hear Steve rubbing above his eyes. "How did you manage to change me back." Loki had stopped from getting up from the bed and raised an eyebrow for a second, before his mouth made a little 'o'.

"That wasn't exactly us," Loki said, moving to grab his robe from the closet. Tony grinned a little and started to get up as well. It seemed that Loki was going to move forward with the taking a shower part of the plan. "Elpis was actually the one to figure out how to reverse the spells from that sad excuse of a sorcerer." Tony walked over, wrapping his arms around Loki's waist, letting his fingers trail lower and lower along his hips.

Loki tried to roll away from Tony's arms with an eye roll, but didn't get very far. "She was able to study the magic that she pulled from him for longer than I was, had I been able to use my magic competently at the time."

"Listen, JARVIS can transfer you down to their line, but right now I'd actually like to continue what was so rudely interrupted," Tony said and both Rogers were groaning again. "Congratulations on becoming a big boy again, Steve. Now go spoil a baby, while I spoil mine." He grinned against Loki's shoulder as they walked into the bathroom. "I love shower sex with you." Loki just hummed, happily, and let Tony trail after him.

* * *

"Mr Stark, Miss Hope." Eindride took a breath when he heard a voice calling. "Dr Banner is arriving at the Tower at present." He felt his pillow move and frowned a little.

"Mmm, we'll be there in a second," Elpis's tired voice mumbled. Oh, that's right, he had fallen asleep with his head in her lap. He went to open his eyes and frowned some more when there was complete darkness and something pressing against his lids.

"El?" He asked as he sat up a little. She took the chance to move her legs off of the bed.

"I put some gauze over your eyes," she explained. "If it worked I didn't want you to open your eyes to the light and have it hurt too much." He nodded a little and started to stretch his arms as he sat up all the way. He body was a little stiff and he could hear the popping of joints as he stretched.

"Why is Uncle Bruce coming again?" He asked as he pushed the blankets back to swing his legs around and to the floor.

"So we don't have to go to a regular Doctor and try to explain why all the physical damage to your eyes has suddenly disappeared." Elpis leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I put some clothes on the chair for you to change into. I'll be back, I'm gonna go change my own clothes."

Eindride listened to her leave the room and took a second to get his bearings after waking up. She had stayed with him all night after reversing the spell, not moving them once. He didn't know anyone outside of family who would even consider doing that, much less without a second thought.

"If you think too hard then you'll really look like your Dad." Eindride turned and smiled a little at the sound of his Uncle's voice. "Trust me, no one wants that." Eindride got up and turned towards the door, Bruce meeting him to give him a hug.

"That must be why you always stay away for so long," Eindride teased. "Too much time down in the lab with Dad could be bad for your health."

"Tony is a health risk to society," Bruce snorted, smiling. "Luckily he's not fatal. So who is this new personal assistant of yours that is able to track me down?"

"There is so much to catch you up on, Uncle Bruce." Eindride sighed dramatically and Bruce punched his shoulder lightly. "We can all talk over breakfast, before Dad comes down to try and steal you."


	19. Chapter 19

**A****/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

******But here's another chapter! Yay!**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it up a little as he rode the elevator down to Eindride's level. JARVIS had told him that Bruce was down there with Eindride and Elpis and Tony couldn't help his curiosity. As the doors opened he headed for the living room, hearing some talking already.

"-just to clean them real quick. So how long have you been working with Anders?" Tony smiled a little when he heard Bruce's voice. The man didn't come to visit often enough for his liking.

"I think we're going on four months now," he heard Elpis say. When he walked in he saw that Elpis was standing by the couch that Eindride was sitting on, leaning forward a little as Bruce used something to clean around his eyes.

"And the crazy of the Stark family hasn't chased you away yet?" Bruce glanced up and smiled at Tony, but didn't let the others know he was there.

"Well, I'm not exactly human, so that probably helps." Bruce raised an eyebrow.

"She's a bird of prey." Elpis jumped a little when Tony was right behind her. "Well, not prey. She's a Phoenix actually, and I think she's been well acquainted with our brand of crazy. Bruce are you getting grey hairs?"

"Not nearly as fast as I would if I was around this Tower." Tony grinned as he watched Bruce dab around Eindride's eyes before placing a cloth over them.

"I missed your sass," Tony said fondly.

"Because you don't get enough sass from Loki or your kids?" Bruce asked, an eyebrow raised in amusement. "JARVIS, dim lights, half way please." The lights in the room went down and Bruce grabbed some tinted glasses. "Where is Loki?"

"He's doing some last minute cleaning in the twins rooms. They're coming back from camp tomorrow." Tony moved to the other side of the couch with Elpis, both standing behind Bruce so they could see Eindride.

"Just because I might have my sight back doesn't mean that I can't hear when you all crowd around me," Eindride muttered. "I can practically feel the intensity coming from your gazes."

"Lean your head back, I'm gonna put some drops in your eyes, then put some glasses over them." Bruce tried to ignore how the two were leaning closer to his back to see. He grabbed a little bottle and gently put two drops of a liquid in each eye. "Blink a lot, work it through. Your eyes have basically been asleep the past seven years and this will help work away at the blurriness your going to have."

"So he can see?" Tony asked, never taking his eyes off his son. Bruce slipped some tinted glasses over Eindride's face as he blinked quickly, wiping at the drops that slid down his cheeks.

Bruce nodded as he handed the young man a tissue. "It'll take a couple of days most likely before we can see if he'll need prescription glasses, but his sight should almost return to what it was before the accident."

"Hey, I can take care of the glasses if he needs them," Tony shrugged a little, a relieved smile crossing his face. "Kind of got a personal eyeglasses factory."

"Yeah, with all the times you change your frames," Eindride snorted a little. He had his eyes shut a little, still, nervous as to what he what might, or might not, see. He felt the familiar tingle of energy and knew that Loki had come down to the room as well. He wasn't sure if that made him more nervous or not.

He seemed to relax a little when he felt Loki's hands on his shoulders from behind, rubbing his tense muscles with his thumbs. 'There's nothing to worry about,' Loki's voice said gently in his mind. 'Yes, it's going to hurt if you can't see again, but you've made significant strides in the past seven years and nothing will change if this doesn't work out. No one will think differently, and your life won't get any harder. I know these are just words right now, but I always speak the truth with my family.'

Eindride bit his bottom lip and nodded a little before slowly opening his eyes, blinking rapidly for a few moments. It was blurry, as had been expected, but the more he blinked, and the more he kept his eyes open the more he could start to see colors come into view. Blurry shapes and colors, and soon he could tell that they were the forms of the people standing in front of him. He let out a little laugh as his face blossomed into a full blown grin. The three blobs in front of him seemed to deflate a little in relief.

"Keep the lights dim for a few more hours, and keep those glasses on for at least the rest of the day." Bruce said as he started to put the drops and other supplies back into a bag. "Like I said, we won't know for at least a day if you're going to need glasses but that won't be a big deal. When we check that we'll check how you see colors and if that's changed as well. I've brought a couple bottles of artificial tears in case your eyes start to get too dry, which wouldn't be all that surprising."

"All that matters is that he's going to be able to see this handsome mug again," Tony said through a grin. Everyone in the room snorted at the man. "You don't want to be as blessed as your Father is everyday?"

"Please explain in the exact context that you use the word, Blessed," Loki started. Tony looked over at him and Tony started to pout. "Your pouts won't work on me, you should know this."

Elpis cleared her throat a little. "I believe your shameless need to not care when things get awkward, is making the rest of us feel awkward," Eindride spoke up.

"I'm going to go claim my room now." Bruce stood up, reached out to ruffle Eindride's hair, and smirked when he leaned back, being stopped by Loki's hands that were still on his shoulders. "Just remember that I was there when you were still too young to stop someone from doing that."

"Bruce, let's be honest, you were there probably from his moment on conception," Tony told him.

"Dad! Oh my god, that's not a conversation that needs to be explored!" Eindride dropped his head into his hands as Tony started to cackle. "I'm too old for this." He yelped when Loki pinched his neck.

Tony, Bruce and Loki left Elpis to tend to Eindride as he rubbed his neck, whining about parents, and gathered into the elevator. "You know," Bruce started as the doors started to close, "when shit starts to hit the fan you Can call me."

"Aww, did you miss us?" Tony batted his eyelashes at Bruce. He just raised an eyebrow. "Well, the way I see it, I don't want to start ruining everyone's lives at once. I have to space it all out." Bruce snorted.

"I also assume that you didn't want the Other Guy to kill this Gjinir guy before you were done torturing him?" Bruce slid the strap of his bag over his shoulder as the doors opened to what was unofficially Bruce's floor inside of the Tower. Tony and Loki followed him. "I assume he's still alive?"

"Breathing, and mostly aware," Loki filled in. "No need to kill him just yet, we might need him still."

Bruce stopped and turned, focusing on Loki. "I'm usually the first person to instantly throw torture out the door, but honestly, the Other Guy probably would have killed him after his last stunt. He would have left a bigger dent in the floor than you did."

Tony grinned as Bruce managed to slip in a joke to what could have been a heavy moment. Loki snorted and rolled his eyes, but the corner of his lips were starting to turn up. "Well, then I'm glad that the two of you weren't here, I'd rather not have to worry about redoing the floors here right before school starts up again. It's such a pain having construction workers around the building on a good day."

"Are the twins experimenting with magic yet?" Bruce continued his way down the hall to the bedroom.

"They're too smart for their own good sometimes," Tony said. "Going to being Juniors in High School in a couple of weeks, and teenagers in one week." He dramatically sniffed and wiped at a fake tear in his eye. "They grow up so fast." Bruce shook his head a little at his friend.

Loki's ear perked a little when he heard a slight crackle, a familiar one, and knew that he had a visitor. "If you'll excuse me, I think that someone is here to see me upstairs." Both Tony and Bruce raised eyebrows at him. "I believe that it might be Heimdall. No need to worry." They both snorted and Loki rolled his eyes because using a small spell to move up to his study.

The Asgardian Seer was waiting for him, hands crossed in front of him. He bowed a little, and Loki knew that it must be important information if Heimdall wasn't teasing him with his title as King. "I have some, interesting, news about the information you requested, about Pandora." Loki raised an eyebrow slightly, nodding for him to continue. He didn't want to waste any time. "I've had differing information that refers to her Doron as the fabled Box that was destroyed, and as a family member. More specifically, it refers to her daughter." Loki raised both eyebrows in surprise. "A daughter that no one has seen since before Pandora died."

"Is she also dead?" Loki asked, thinking that he already knew the answer to the question.

Heimdall shook his head. "She simply disappeared. After learning more, I'm most interested in learning about your source. It is possible that they would know the whereabouts of the woman." Loki frowned a little as he thought, then glanced up at Heimdall. "There is much mystery, and even rumor, that surrounds her, even to those that are much older than I." Heimdall studied Loki as he stayed silent in thought. "Do you think you know where she is?"

Loki hummed and nodded once. "I believe I do. I'm going to need to hear everything that you learned, Heimdall. It's going to be very important."


	20. Chapter 20

**A****/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

******But here's another chapter! Yay!**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony yawned and flopped down onto the bed, face pressing into the pillow, arm flying out to cross over Loki's stomach. He hadn't seen his husband at dinner, but wasn't too concerned. Loki could have used their connection to warn him if something was seriously wrong, and it wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for one of them to disappear for hours at a time with either information or a good experiment.

"What do you know of Eindride and Elpis's official schedule for the next two weeks?" Tony raised an eyebrow and lifted his head a little at the question. "Are there many public appearances?"

"I'm not actually too sure," Tony turned to lay on his side so he could look at Loki. "You've got that look, like you know that something's going to happen, you're just not sure what." Loki nodded and Tony sighed a little. "Alright, how bad is it?"

"I'm not sure," Loki told him.

"How worried should we be?"

"I'm not sure," he repeated. Tony frowned now.

"Alright, what Do you know? Sometimes it's like talking to a sphinx." Tony ran his hand through his hair.

"I find a sphinx quite enjoyable to talk to sometimes," Loki commented and Tony shot an annoyed look at him. "I have a feeling that it will involve Hela, but in what capacity I don't know yet."

"Does it have anything to do with why she took Elpis the first time?" Loki nodded and Tony's brow furrowed together. "Okay, stop being cryptic, tell me what happened with Heimdall."

"How much do you know about Pandora's Box?" Loki asked, looking over at the inventor.

"The story?" Loki nodded and Tony shrugged a little. "Not a lot, just the basics. She had a box full of bad shit, and curiosity got the best of her and she opened it. When she closed it everything bad in the world escaped but she had locked away something good, I think it was like hope. I don't know much else, like why she had the box, or if anything happened to her or not after that."

"Pandora was said to be the first woman created by the Greek Gods. She was not the first woman on this earth but the Greeks have large egos." Tony only quirked an eyebrow. "All of the Gods had a hand in creating her, making her the supposed perfect woman. She was give to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus, as a wife after his brother stole the fire from Olympus, and with her was her box, which was actually a jar. Zeus had given it to her, but told them not to open it, no matter what."

"Obviously when you tell something not to do something, they're going to do it," Tony snorted out. "That's just a law of nature."

"Indeed," Loki nodded. "Zeus knew this would happen, of course, and when she opened the jar, all the evils of the world were released, and she trapped the remaining Hope inside of the jar. What they don't tell you, probably because mortals didn't know, was that Pandora had been around for a while before being wed to Epimetheus. She had had a daughter that was fully grown by the time all of this happened."

"Eve had a kid, and it wasn't with her Adam?" Tony gasped dramatically, then wiggled his eyebrows. "I like this Pandora chick." He zipped his lips when Loki shot a small glare his way.

"No one actually knows what her name was, because she disappeared before the box fiasco," Loki continued. "She's not dead, of that we're certain, but we didn't know where she had disappeared too."

"Is she important? I mean like, powers, or some crazy prophecy holder?" Tony asked, trying to understand how everything connected to Hela.

"That's what I was trying to figure out, actually." Tony raised an eyebrow. "There is a very high possibility that she has become a new vessel for the evils that Pandora originally guarded."

Tony sat up a little in the bed to look at Loki. "You're telling me that there's a walking Box?" Loki grunted a little. "Okay... And Hela is after that, right? I mean, that could be something pretty bad. But if that happens, don't we just keep it open until hope gets out? Make sure we don't have a repeat?"

"Heimdall and I have a theory that the hope trapped in the jar, was actually Pandora's daughter," Loki continued, not answering Tony's questions at first. "Hope is the daughter that's still alive, Hope is carrying all the evils of the universe." Tony swallowed a little. "Hope is currently downstairs with our son." Tony thought he stopped breathing for a second before frowning. "If Hela knows about this-"

"We can't let them out of our sights," Tony concluded, falling back onto the pillow. "You should stay here tomorrow while I go get the twins." Loki glanced over at him. "Elpis will be distracted by making sure that Anders is alright, he'll be distracted with his slowly recovering sight, and Bruce will be distracted with them. You know how to best handle Hela if she shows up."

"If you go alone to get the boys, you're making yourselves to be walking targets," Loki argued frowning.

"I'll be expecting it though, I'll be ready. I can protect the boys. You should be here just in case, because it''s what you'll be expecting." Tony ran his hand through his hair and looked over at Loki. "The more prepared we are the less likely it's going to happen right away."

"Do not tempt the Fates that you don't believe in, Anthony." Loki rolled his eyes at the small smile. Tony rolled over and kissed Loki lightly. "Alright, you go pick up the boys from the train station, and I'll stay here. I swear if anything happens-"

"You'll be the first to know," Tony said as he kissed him once again. "Look at it this way, we know something Hela doesn't think that we do. We know to expect her, we're one step ahead of what she thinks we are." Loki nodded a little and wrapped an arm around Tony's waist, pulling him against his chest. "We can handle this." 

* * *

Elpis looked around and saw wooden wall again. Walking over she felt for the familiar metal hinge. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me!" Elpis called out, looking around. "I get that there's a connection to Pandora's box. I am not unaware that my name is Hope, and I'm trapped inside of a box. I'm gonna need a little more help on this." She let out a sigh and let her head tip back a little.

She gasped when the ground under her feet suddenly changed, turning into a smooth slope of red stone. Her arms flailed up and she caught the lip of whatever she was. Everything felt familiar under her hands suddenly. Pulling herself up a little, her feet scrambling to get a good grip, she looked up and around. It was a large jar easily twice the size of her, twice as deep as she was tall,

Her mouth suddenly felt dry as she hung onto the edge. This was a jar, an all too familiar jar, she'd been here before. "No, no please." She shook her head a little. The lid of the jar started to flip down, heading for her fingers. "No! Not again! Stop!" Elpis yelped when she was forced to let go before he fingers were crushed, sliding down the wall of the jar until she landed on the bottom.

Quickly pushing herself up she started to pound on the jar. "Help! I'm still in here! Mom! I'm here!" She shouted until her throat was dry and her hands hurt from pounding. Sliding down she let out a breath and closed her eyes memories suddenly flying to the front of her mind. "I'm here, I've always been here," she murmured.

Elpis sat up in her bed, gasping for air, arms going out, making sure that she wasn't pushing against any walls. Her eyes adjusted and she could see that she was in her bed, inside the Tower. She remembered being approached when she was younger, he said he was Zeus and that he knew her mother. She hadn't seen Pandora in years, so she was eager in the promise that she would see her mother ago that she just yes. Then she found herself inside of the jar. Elpis shivered and willed those memories back down. She didn't need to remember being trapped with all the evil.


	21. Chapter 21

**A****/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

******But here's another chapter! Yay!**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony had his hair tied back at the neck, large glasses on, as he entered the train station. He usually wasn't noticed when his hair was pulled back, and he wasn't wearing the slim glasses he did for public outings. He and Loki often toyed with the idea of cutting his hair short again, but knew that he would still be noticed for his old look, no matter how much time had passed. Maybe in another fifty years it would be okay. He was still getting used to thinking about future generations.

Glancing down at his phone for the right info, he made his way to the right platform, and noticed that the train was actually going to be about five minutes late. The station was busy, all the benches were occupied so he leaned against a pillar by the arrivals board. There were college students getting ready their stuff to move into their dorms and apartments last minute, with their parents right behind them looking as frazzled as their kids. Others were getting ready to go home from their summer vacation and there were a lot of kids being barely contained from wandering off. Being the middle of the afternoon there were no business workers waiting for their commute. He was glad he never had to catch a train when he was younger.

Someone was walking rather quickly, looking at a ticket in their hand when they ran into Tony's arm. They both stumbled the woman dropped her purse. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry about it," Tony said as they both went down to grab the purse and the stuff that had fallen out. "It's pretty crowded here so it's easy not to see everything." They both reached for a pen and her hand landed on his wrist, grasping it a little. Tony looked up and saw familiar ice blue eyes and a smirk looking at him. He glared and felt a burst of magic flare at his fingers.

Hela squeezed his wrist a little and a wave of cold quenched the power. "Now, now, Anthony, let's not make a scene, yet. Here to pick up the twins are we?" Tony's jaw tightened and he slowly stood up with her, hand still on his wrist. "I hope they enjoyed their time away. Do they know about me yet?"

"You know I hate repeating myself. You already know about the no psychopaths rule." Tony kept his tone light so he didn't attract any unwanted civilian attention. "We haven't seen one birthday or Christmas present from you, so we don't tell them about you."

"Your words almost hurt." She tsked a couple of times and shook her head, smiling. "I said I would be watching with interest, didn't I? Have you unraveled the mystery of your little bird yet?"

"The mystery that she can kick your ass now that she has her powers back in full?" Tony raised an eyebrow at her. He idly thought that this is how things started with Loki, talking instead of fighting. Tony would have to talk to Loki and Bruce after this to see if there was something wrong with him. Normal people, or heroes for that matter, don't stop to have a chat with villains. "Thanks for that by the way, we like having more fire power around." He paused for a second. "Pun intended."

"It's not a pun if you don't realize it at first." Tony tried not to pout. The whistle of an arriving train sounded behind them. Hela reached up and pat Tony's cheek twice. "I'll see you around. We are family after all." She grinned at him and let go of his wrist, falling into step with a large crowd that was headed for the train, disappearing from view.

Tony tried not to grind his teeth together and turned towards the train. He was fairly certain that she wasn't going to go after the boys, but that didn't stop him from taking larger steps to get the train. He of course knew the exact car that the boys would be on, and their seats, and hopped up on the steps just as people started to walk out. Walking i he made his way to the private club room that he had made sure they had.

"Dad!" Two sets of arms wrapped around him as soon as he had stepped inside and he smiled, pulling his boys closer to him.

"Well, aren't you two a sight for sore eyes. Ready to go home?" They both nodded eagerly. He could see the big smiles on their faces though and knew that they at least had fun. "You two can tell me all about camp in the car ride home, and then you tell Dad and Uncle Bruce when we get home."

"Uncle Bruce is here?" Sander asked excitedly. Tony nodded and they both grinned, scrambling for their bags. He laughed a little when they started to push him out, wanting to get home right away. 

* * *

"Someone is surely going to notice that suddenly, the CEO of one of the biggest companies, suddenly isn't blind anymore," Elpis commented as she looked through her StarkPad. Bruce was checking Eindride's eyes down in the lab, making the determination if he needed glasses or not. Loki was perched on the edge of a table, watching the everyone in the room. Elpis was a little jealous that he still managed to look graceful even in jeans and a t-shirt.

"But not unusual when people really start to think about it," Eindride said, not moving when Bruce checked for pupil dialation . "Everyone knows that weird stuff happens all the time with this family."

"This is a little more than just something weird happening, this is curing a physical disability. Not just something to bat your lashes at." Elpis glanced over at her boss.

"And how exactly are you going to cover this up, oh assistant of mine?" Elpis raised her eyebrows and swore she could see Eindride's smirk. "We can't say that it was experimental medication, cause then they'll be expecting that from the company."

"You live to make my life difficult, don't you?" Now she was certain that she Did see his smirk. "Dr Banner, please tell me that you have to give him some horrendously thick glasses."

Bruce glanced at Loki who just rolled his eyes a little, and snorted. "Well, I'm no expert, and I'll have JARVIS run the final scan, but he is going to need glasses."

"Great, now he will be just like his Dad, having at least fifty different frames to choose from." Loki let out an amused sighed.

"Now I have to coordinate frames to outfits?" Elpis let her head drop back, letting out a groan. "What have I done?" She jumped a little when there was a kiss on her cheek and she looked at Endride. "You're not going win me over with sweet talking and nice gesture, you know."

"I often find myself saying that my husband," Loki commented idly and Bruce smirked, putting his stuff back in his bag.

"Why did I agree to stay here for a while?" Bruce asked as JARVIS took the scans of Eindride.

"Uncle Bruce!" Two boys jumped on Bruce's back and Loki grinned as he fell to the ground.

"That's why we're glad you stayed." Loki watched the boys started talking at the same time when Bruce was sitting to the face them. Tony walked over them and kissed Loki's cheek. He tried not to frown when he felt the slight tension rolling off of Tony.

"Scan is complete," JARVIS announced. "If you would like to pick out some frames I can fabricate the correct prescription lenses." A screen appeared in front of Eindride and Tony glanced over.

"Oo, another Stark gets lenses, I like it." Tony leaned against Loki's legs crossing his arms in front of him. Eindride looked at the frames then looked over at Tony. He whispered to Elpis, not looking away from Tony and she reached forward to swipe away some of the choices. "Wait, did you just take away the ones that looked like mine?" The two looked at Tony for a second then looked back at the frames. Tony's jaw dropped a little. "Loki!"

"You are not honestly whining to me about this, are you?" Loki raised an eyebrow, letting his arm rest on Tony's shoulder. "He is our son, of course he doesn't want to look like you." Tony gasped a little.

Loki started to rub Tony's shoulder and he groaned a little. When Loki rubbed his shoulders he was never able to keep anything from him. Tony was doomed. "She showed up at the train station." Loki's hands stilled a little. "She just talked, didn't even look at the boys. Still doesn't know that we know, please don't stop rubbing my shoulders."

"You have a problem, you are aware of this, correct?" Tony just nodded, leaning back into Loki's hands. "You can't just keep having idle conversations with villains. It gets you into trouble. Trouble that I have to get you out of."

"Excuse you, that's how we met." Tony argued, eyes closed.

"No, we met when you pointed your hand at me, as well as a dozen other weapons," Loki corrected. "And you insulted me, twice, in an hour. By all rights, I should have erased your existence."

"But then I offered you a drink, insulted you again, and I struck your fancy. Admit it. Oh god, that feels so good." Tony nearly lost his balance when Loki hit a particular spot making Tony's knees a little weak. "And look at us now. I'm literally putty in your hands."

"Like you ever weren't." Loki kissed his neck.


	22. Chapter 22

**A****/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

******But here's another chapter! Yay!**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki folded his green scarf neatly before slipping it around his neck. Eindride was sitting across from him in the limo they rode in. He could see that Loki was on the verge of complaining about Tony, but was doing his best to keep it in. They were both in black tuxedos, on their way to one of Stark Industries charity events.

"What does Dad have to do to make this up to you?" Eindride smirked a little at the annoyed look that Loki shot him. It was weird, and yet relieving at the same time, to see the little looks that Loki would give. He didn't realize how much he missed having his sight, but he wasn't going to take it for granted.

"He has to attend one of Jotunheim's gala's, the next time we have one," Loki told him. "Without his warming charm." Eindride winced a little with a smile. "Honestly, how does he forget about this charity event two days before it happens?"

"Whenever Dad dies, he'll probably be late to that as well." Loki snorted and rolled his eyes. "You didn't happen to see Elpis before we left, did you?" Loki hummed, shaking his head no. Elpis had left early to make sure that everything was set up and in order for the event, but she hadn't been dressed yet when she left. Eindride was curious as to what she was going to wear.

"I'm sure she'll be waiting for us. Can't let you do anything alone, just like your father." Eindride frowned. "If given the chance the two of you would ignore anything to do with PR or meetings and just create all day." He couldn't deny that. "This is why you both needed personal assistants. Poor Pepper had it harder than Elpis does though."

"We aren't That horrible you know." Loki raised an eyebrow at his son as the limo came to a stop. "Don't give me that look, it's true." Loki kept his eyebrow raised and Eindride huffed a little. The door opened and he got out first, trying not to wince as all the cameras started to go off. He could feel Loki right behind him, straightening his jacket as they headed inside of the building.

"About time." Eindride and Loki turned to see someone walking towards them. Eindride's eyes widened a little when he noticed who it was. Elpis was headed their way, her hair braided ad wrapped up in a bun, wearing a red strapless, floor length, dress with an embroidered phoenix on it that wrapped all the way around. "I've had everyone asking when you were going to get here, although they are going to be disappointed when they see that Tony didn't come."

"He claims that someone must stay home with the twins, and since he and Dr Banner have the best chance at keeping them occupied, that he simply could not attend tonight." Elpis could hear the eye roll in Loki's voice. "So somehow, he managed to talk me into coming tonight." Loki and Tony had talked about it and agreed that Loki would be better suited to going to keep an eye out on Elpis and Eindride. Hela had made it clear that she wasn't interested in Tony or the boys, making them the safest at home, but they shouldn't still be alone.

"It should be interesting to see what he has to do with to make this up to you." Elpis chuckled and stood next to Eindride, hands holding onto a small clutch purse in front of her. "If you don't mind, I'm going to steal Mr Stark for his mandatory half hour of schmoozing." Eindride looped his arm with hers, and Loki gave him a knowing smirk. At least it would be easier to keep an eye on them when they were together.

Loki loved being able to blend in to a large crowd when he was alone. A word here or there as he passed by people, being able to quietly get a drink from the bar, keeping an eye on most of the room. In the middle of the room was a dance floor where a handful of people were dancing, and he smirked when he saw Eindride taking Elpis's hand. She was trying to say no, but the smile on her own face as she let him pull her out betrayed her words.

"There's no way that you can use the excuse that you don't know how to dance," Eindride said as he took her one of her hands, the other resting on her waist. "You've been around too long to not know how to dance."

"For all you know I could have helped invite some dances." Elpis chuckled as he raised an eyebrow. "I didn't, but you didn't know that."

"One day, we're going to have to sit down and just go over every major life and history event that you had a hand in." Elpis snorted a little. "Okay, so we'll have to dedicate several days to it." Eindride started to turn them towards the edge of the room.

"I should tell you something then, that I just remembered last week." Eindride raised an eyebrow as her tone became a little softer. "Perhaps not in a big group of people?" He nodded and took her hand, taking them off of the dance floor.

"When you say, just remembered, that sounds like something important," Eindride said as they walked to a less crowded area.

"You're very observant." Elpis smiled softly, still holding onto his arm.

"He is, isn't he?" They both turned to see a woman behind them. Stepping closer they saw Hela smirking and tingle wave through the air. Eindride wrapped an arm around Elpis's waist from behind, pulling her against his chest as he let a shield spell cover them. Everyone in the room slowly stopped moving, a wave of a spell spreading over the room freezing everyone.

Hela was suddenly spun around, Loki facing her, a glare set on his face and his hands up in a spell. "It's not nice to interrupt, brother," she growled at him and slammed her open palm on his chest, sending him flying back into the wall. Turning back she quickly took a step closer to Elpis and Eindride put a hand on Elpis's stomach. "I was going to be nice about this, but my patience has run out. I'd like to open the box now. If you see your mother, please tell her I admire her creativity."

Hela pushed her hand forward, sliding through the dress, and into Elpis. She was pushed back into Eindride, causing him to stumble back. Hela gripped at the energies, pulling a scream of pain from Elpis. Eindride gained his balance back as Elpis slumped in his arms, Hela yanking back harshly and pulling free from the woman.

Loki growled and grabbed Hela's arm and threw her back. "Get out of here!" Loki yelled to Eindride, never taking his eyes off of Hela as she pulled herself up. "Get Elpis away from her. Now!" Eindride frowned but didn't hesitate, hooking an arm under her legs and picking her up.

"Do you know who she is?" Hela smiled at Loki. He tried not to frown, bothered when she didn't immediately try to get away from him. "Do you know the power, the chaos, that she holds?" She took a step closer to Loki. "Doesn't the thought of releasing Pandora's Box just make you tingle inside?"

"We have two definitions of what fun is." Loki told her.

Eindride pushed his shoulder against the main doors of the building, but they didn't move. Elpis had started to breath faster, her eyes screwed shut in pain. He kicked at the door but nothing happened. Looking around he ran for the elevator across the room. It would at least keep them away from Hela until Loki was able to get rid of her. Letting off a spark of magic into the buttons, the elevator doors opened and he hurried inside, setting Elpis down gently. As the doors closed her took her hands, letting her squeeze them tightly.

Eindride opened his mouth to ask a question when a wind whipped through the elevator. Elpis let out a scream and Eindride was thrown back across the other side of the cart. He opened his eyes, wincing a little, and looked over then up, eyes widening a little. The top of the cart was suddenly filled with black entities, swarming at the ceiling, rocking the elevator little.

Loki's head suddenly turned towards the direction that Eindride and Elpis had run to and Hela started to laugh. "In all your planning you still failed. The mortals have made you soft, Loki, and now that's going to cause your precious Midgard to all into ruin. All the evils of the Universe, the destructive spirits and powers, now free, ready for some vengeance after over three centuries."

Loki turned back to look at her, jerking back when her hand suddenly clamped over his mouth, nails digging into his skin. "And I'm going to be there to lead them into glorious destruction. You can either join me, or burn." She lifted him up and threw him back. He took a split second to release a spell, transporting him to Eindride's location before he crashed into the people in the room. His side slammed into the floor and he slid back, his back ramming into the wall knocking the air from his lungs and white to spark in his vision. He heard the haunting screams of the evil in the elevator and swallowed. For once he didn't know what to do.


	23. Chapter 23

**A****/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

******But here's another chapter! Yay!**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to be able to see straight again. He saw Eindride looking at him as he helped Elpis sit up. Loki mentally frowned as he noticed that she looked very pale, especially compared to her naturally tanned skin. Glancing up he saw exactly what he had been hearing before. Spirits, entities, power, all of evil, destruction, and hate.

The elevator cart jerked suddenly and it started to move upwards. Loki pushed himself to a sitting position. "Can you get yourself and Elpis out of here? Without opening the doors?" Loki didn't want to admit that his voice could have been stronger.

Eindride shook his head. "My magic doesn't feel that strong in here. I'm not sure I could even get myself out of here with confidence." He glanced up then back to Loki. "What's going on?"

"She opened Pandora's Box," Elpis said quietly, looking up. Loki looked over at her. "She found it, and she opened it, and now everything that was inside is trapped in here, with us." She looked at Loki then back at Eindride. "You're powers probably feel off because they'll absorb any powers, use it to get stronger. Any spell will be like a homing beacon to them."

Loki blinked, thinking. Something seemed off with Hela's actions. Why would she release the evils, then let Elpis get away from her. "Can someone attempt to possess the powers? Use them as their own?"

"They can try, but they'll be overpowered," Elpis told him.

"Even someone like Hela?" Loki moved to his knees when the elevator stopped moving. "The door is going to open, and when it does I want both of you to get out."

"Do you expect us to outrun these things? And what are you going to do?" Eindride frowned, watching Loki's hands start to glow. The entities started to circle faster, thrashing, headed towards Loki. "Dad!"

The door opened and Loki threw a spell out to push Eindride and Elpis out of the elevator. Loki rolled to the side when the entities moved towards him. He kept power in his hands, trying to attract them, but saw, and felt, them start to move out of the elevator. He grunted and channeled more magic to his hands, feeling the pull of energy leave his body.

"Do you honestly think that you are prepared to take this power on!" Loki looked up and saw Hela outside of the elevator. "Let it go, Loki, I'm more prepared than you." She grinned, her hands glowing, pulling the entities closer to her. "If you let it go you'll be able to live, and I'd be willing to hear your arguments on which of your family will live with you."

"You don't know what your doing!" Elpis yelled at her. Her and Eindride were far behind Hela. "you can't control them, there's too many!"

"I'm not weak like you, child!" Hela never looked away from Loki, smirking. "Unlike you, I know what they need, what they feed off of." Hela lashed a spell out at Loki, slamming him back against the wall of the elevator, disrupting his spell. The entities let out screams and wails as they shout out towards her, circling her. She put out her hands and they started to glow with a black energy. Loki pushed himself up with one arm and looked over. Hela let out a gasp as she was surrounded shortly before absorbing all of the entities.

Her body let out a flash of energy and she let out a breath, rolling her neck to crack the bones slowly. Loki watched as one of her eyes turned dark, the other fighting to stay an ice blue. She was warring with the powers and being inside of her, and Loki didn't know if it would be better if she won or not.

Loki pushed himself to his feet quickly and launched from the elevator at Hela, catching her around the waist and tackling her to the ground. She growled loudly and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him off of her and slamming his side into the ground. As she went to get up Eindride stepped up in front of her, turning to kick at her head to keep her down. She grabbed his ankle in mid kick and let out a wide unnatural grin.

Hela pushed herself up, turning in a circle on her foot, pulling Eindride off of his feet and threw him like a stick, launching him back into the elevator. Elpis attacked from behind, throwing a lie of fire at her. Loki rolled over onto his hands and knees in time to see Hela grab the fire like a whip, turning it back on Elpis. The phoenix ducked but missed Hela moving towards her. Hela grabbed her by the neck and threw her like a rag doll into the elevator, landing on top of Eidride.

Hela pointed at the cart and it started to shake. She let out a laugh when she saw Loki get up to run for the elevator, cracking the fire whip and catching Loki around the neck. She pulled back, pulling him to ground, making sure he was watching as the elevator suddenly started to plummet, doors still open, with Eindride and Elpis inside.

Loki let out a cry of pain form the fire on skin, but pulled at it with his hands, trying to get to the elevator. Loki's eyes widened when a plume of fire shot up through the still open elevator doors. His body felt numb, knowing that it was too fast for Eindride to be able to react. Loki moved suddenly, hands glowing bright green as he got to Hela. He grabbed her wrist of the hand that held the whip, let his hand turn blue, and let frost start to crawl up her arm. Hela narrowed her eyes at him, growling loudly, the colors in her eyes changing rapidly as the cold and ice start to affect her body.

"I can see the war in your eyes," Loki growled dangerously. "You can't keep control over the power." He didn't feel numb anymore, Loki felt blind rage at the woman in front of him. "You were wrong, you don't know what they need. I know what it is, I know what it is that they truly want, and it's pure power." The fire fizzled out as the ice reached her hand, disappearing from around his neck. "You have always been a selfish, vindictive, vacuous, poor excuse of a being! And you have gone too far!" He let go of her wrist only to push both open palms at her, letting a strong gust of wind and frost lift her from the ground and throw her. Hela growled and disappeared with her own magic.

Loki took several deep breaths before one of his knees locked back, causing him to stumble down to the ground on his knees. He put a hand on the ground then hissed and pulled back, looking down to see that his hands were burnt. When he moved his head his neck twinged with pain from burns.

He looked back over towards the elevator shaft but didn't hear the sounds of fire any longer in the tunnel. Now that the object of his directed rage was no longer there, Loki was left with the thoughts that one of his children was caught in the flames, left with the thoughts that if he had been more prepared he might have been able to save him, that maybe if he had told them about Hela they might have been more on guard. He had doomed Elpis to an eternity of torture, a death at the hands of Hela left little chance of being able to Ash again. All Loki could think about was that he had failed his family, again, but now he couldn't do anything about it.


	24. Chapter 24

**A****/N: Feel the ripples in the pond.  
**

******So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Anya grabbed a jacket as she double checked the reports on her desk. Kasir and Iria were up in Asgard and she decided to catch up on some of her own work down in Helheim. They weren't sure exactly how Hela had lived when she was there, but they had constructed what would look like a small mansion up on Midgard, and worked out of offices. They were assured that things had never been so orderly before, and Anya took a little pride in that.

When she put her hand on the door handle of the main she stopped, a shiver running down her back. She frowned and took a step away from the door. A second later the door blew back, slamming into her and sending her to the floor. Anya gasped for air and slid the door off of her. Someone suddenly grabbed the collar of her shirt and lifted her, slamming her back into a wall. Her eyes widened when she found herself staring at Hela.

She seemed wild, her hair seemed to be moving, her eyes were unstable, changing colors, and her powers seemed out of control. Powers that she shouldn't have. "It's been a long time since we've met, whelp. Or do you prefer to be called Your Highness? I know I did when I ruled." Hela's hand shifted and she was holding onto Anya's jaw. "I guess I should say, I Will be called that again. I know how to kill the undead." 

* * *

Fourteen year old Iria sat on the edge of the bifrost, her golden eyes reflecting the stars around the realms that she looked at. Heimdall was behind her, proud that his granddaughter had taken so quickly to being a Seer. She turned her eyes back home, to see if her mother had started to work or was relaxing like her dad had told her to. Iria frowned when she saw a woman with black hair headed towards their home, dark power sparking at her hands.

"Grandfather?" Iria stood up, frowning when the door was blown from the hinges. "There's someone in Helheim I don't recognize."

Heimdall turned his gaze towards Hel, then narrowed his eyes a little. "Run back to the palace, get your father and the King immediately." Iria looked up at him but he just pointed back towards Asgard. She could feel the tension startng to roll off of him and nodded before running for her horse.

Heimdall hoped that she would be fast enough, and that Kasir would be able to turn his senses to Helheim in time. He had never seen Hela like this and he didn't know what she would do. 

* * *

Elpis grunted when she landed on Eindride in the elevator, rolling off of him before she got up, helping him to his feet as well. The cart shook and they looked at each other, sensing what was coming. They had to act fast.

When the elevator started to drop Elpis grabbed onto the metal rail with one hand, the other grabbing Eindride's arm to stabilize him. He shot a blast of power up, blowing the escape hatch off the ceiling.

"We're going too fast!" Eindride looked at her.

"We'll see!" She threw him up enough so that her could grab the edge of the hatch and pulled himself out. As soon as he was out and let go of the elevator he felt his feet leave solid ground, the elevator moving unnaturally fast. A few seconds later something large and soft wrapped around his body, twisting him in the air, as a deafening crash of metal and an explosion hit his ears. A searing heat blew past his body, making him light headed, but not burning his body. He lost consciousness when he and whatever was around him slammed into the wreckage of the elevator.

He wasn't sure how long he was out but he slowly rolled a little and saw Elpis next to him, her hair loose around her, and feathers slowly receding from her arms. Eindride realized that it must have been her wings that had wrapped around him, protecting him from the explosion of the elevator. He saw her chest moving as she breathed, but her eyes were closed, unconscious. He opened his mouth to shout for Loki but immediately coughed on the smoke and debris around them.

Loki's eyes focused on the spark of red that suddenly shot up from the elevator shaft. A few seconds later there was another spark that he recognized as the color of Eindride's magic. He pushed himself up and over to the open doors and looked down briefly before jumping down without a thought.

He saw Eindride and Elpis, clothes frayed and scorched, soot and cuts all over them from the crash, but for the most part unharmed, and still alive. Loki pulled Eindride into his arms as soon as he landed, using him magic to help him stay on his feet. He ran a hand through Eindride's hair once before reaching over to pull Elpis over to them, letting his magic wash over them, taking them back to the Tower.

Tony jumped, falling over the chair he was sitting in when the trio arrived in the living room, Elpis on the couch and Eindride and Loki on the floor. His eyes widened when he saw the condition they were in. "What the hell!" Eindride started to cough again and Tony ran to the kitchen to get some water. Tony handed the glass to his son, who was missing his glasses, and looked at Loki.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Tony looked over as Bruce walked into the room, first aid bag in his hand.

"I don't know, I don't even know what happened," Tony told him. He pulled Loki up gently as Bruce moved to help Eindride and Elpis. They headed down the hall, far enough away from the living room so they wouldn't be overheard. "It was Hela wasn't it?" Loki just nodded. Tony couldn't help but look at the burns around his neck. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Loki snapped and Tony just raised an eyebrow at him. "She showed up and showed us that we weren't prepared enough."

"I was more or less referring to the nasty burns you're sporting on your neck and hands." Tony gently turned Loki's hands up to see the damage.

"I can take care of them." Loki pulled his hands from Tony's.

"Whoa," Tony put his hands up in surrender. "No need to take my head off, I'm just understandably concerned when my family shows up looking like they just went through a war."

"We haven't been through one, we're just about to go through one." Loki huffed and started to pace. Tony frowned watching him, sensing something off. "She released the evils and then tried to take their power. There are powerful and evil entities inside of Hela, being fueled by her rage and hate, using her powers, and every person and realm will be in her sights. If you hadn't noticed," Loki snarled a little, "whatever damage has happened will be nothing compared to what Will happen."

"Hey, I wasn't there, I don't know what happened, alright? I'm trying to take care of what I can see." Tony took a step closer to Loki. He saw something dark pass through Loki's eyes and frowned again. A flash of pain passed through Tony's chest suddenly and he grunted. Loki turned to look at Tony, eyes narrowed in an anger Tony had never seen directed towards himself.

"You forget your place, and that I am above you." Tony winced when another pain spread in his head. He gasped a little and put a hand to his chest, stumbling to one knee as pain electrified through his body. "I am your Master."

"Loki," Tony gasped out, shutting his eyes. "Stop." Tony took a deep breath and fell forward, catching himself with his hands on the floor when the pain suddenly stopped. He glanced up to see Loki's eyes wide, backing away. "I don't, think, she's the only, one, possessed by evil," Tony said while taking breaths. He put out a hand, beckoning Loki over to help him stand up. When Loki didn't move Tony wiggled his fingers more. "Get over here. I'm not mad."

"You should be," Loki said quietly. He walked over and Tony grabbed his hands, not commenting on the slight shake in Loki's hands.

"Let's just focus on getting whatever is inside of you, out. You're not exactly sexy when you're angry at me and then trying to kill me." Loki frowned at Tony, but Tony just squeezed his hand, leaning on him a little. "Something obviously happened that let this evil thing get inside of you. You're going to have to tell me about it, no excuses." He kissed Loki's forehead before resting his head against Loki's.


	25. Chapter 25

**A****/N: Feel the ripples in the pond.  
**

******So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

When Tony and Loki walked back into the living room, Elpis was sitting up, a cold pack to her head, Eindride sitting next to her. "I want a raise," she muttered and Eindride snorted. "If I Ash one more time, I want more money. Hazard pay. Do I get death benefits?"

"If I paid you death benefits, you'd be making more than I would eventually," Eindride told her. He took the cold pack from her, frosting it over before returning it back to her head. Bruce looked at over at Tony and Loki and glanced at the burns. Tony shook his head a little.

"So, any idea on how to get everything back in the box?" Tony asked as they walked further into the room. Tony sat down in the chair next to the couch and Loki stayed behind the chair, keeping everyone separated by furniture. "We'll need to move fast to stop Hela. She's angry on the best of days, no need to give her more power to get revenge on the lot of us."

"I'm not completely sure," Elpis said with a frown. "I just started remembering everything from my past, that somehow you two seem to know about."

"Yeah, I'm interested in that detail as well." Eindride said, trying not to squint at the two of them without his glasses.

"That's not as important," Tony waved it off. "So who would know how to get everything back in order?"

"My mother." Tony made a little face and Bruce and Eindride raised an eyebrow. "But I don't know where she is."

"Have been in contact with her recently?" Loki asked calmly.

"Not for a couple of weeks, and at the time I didn't know who she was," Elpis admitted. "She would show up in my dreams." Loki nodded a little.

"We shouldn't call on her anyway, we don't know what could happen to her when confronted by the very evils that she locked away the second time." Loki put a hand on Tony's shoulder, and Tony reached up to put his hand over it. He knew that Loki was still fighting to keep the own entity inside of him pushed back.

"Sir, Mrs Rogers is calling," JARVIS announced to the room. "She has used an emergency code." Tony frowned but nodded for it to go through.

"Hello?" Gabby's voice was a little higher than usual. "Hela is down in Helheim, and she's got Anya." 

* * *

It didn't take long for Kasir and Gabby to show up at the Tower, Iria staying with Steve and Andrew back at Gabby's. "Hela has managed to block me from getting back to Helheim," Kasir told them when they appeared.

"I'll be able to get through that," Loki told him. "But not many of us should travel there. We'll need as much power to combat her as possible."

"It's my realm, and my wife that she is threatening." Kasir took a step forward. They could all see a hard glint in his eyes, he was taking this attack personally. "And if I and our daughter had been there, it would be my family under attack."

"I should go," Elpis stood up from the couch. "This is my responsibility."

Loki nodded as his clothes changed from the ripped tux to his Asgardian leathers. "We should go then." Tony took a step in front of him, putting a hand on his arm. "I can handle it. It would be too taxing, and dangerous, to bring anyone else with us."

"Kick her ass, then," Tony answered. He kissed Loki quickly before the man turned back to the others. He locked eyes with Gabby for a second before giving her a quick nod. 

* * *

Anya slid on the floor and behind a wall, leaning against it heavily, to avoid Hela. She wiped the blood off of her head with her hand before it reached her eye and tried to slow her breathing. She never remembered Hela being this powerful, but she sensed something wrong, something else inside of her. Anya gingerly touched a wound on her side and bit her lip to keep from hissing as she tried to pull on some power to try and heal it. Nothing sparked to her fingers and she let out a little moan.

"Getting tired?" Anya's eyes shot open to see Hela stepping front of her. She sported a couple of cuts on her face that Anya had managed to get on her. "This could be so much easier, you know what you have to do."

Anya looked at her then spit out some blood at her face. Hela smirked a little. Her hand struck out, grabbing Anya's face over her mouth, gripping tightly and lifting her up off the ground. Anya grabbed at her wrist, kicking her one uninjured leg out a little.

There was an audible pop behind Hela. "Hela. Stop." Loki growled out.

"It should have taken you longer to break through my spell," Hela responded, not moving yet. "But, it makes sense now that I can see that you had some help."

"Put her down, Hela." Kasir took a step forward. Hela turned her head back to look at him and smiled, showing some teeth. Her had squeezed tighter and Anya let out a squeak, pulling harder at Hela's hand. There was a sudden crack and Anya's eyes widened as she let out a strangled cry of pain. Hela did a half spin and threw Anya into the ground causing her to roll and hit Kasir's legs. He recovered quickly and pulled Anya to his chest.

"She might not be able to talk," Hela taunted as she faced the others. "I forgot just how fragile jaws and bones actually were." Loki felt a flash of pure anger rush through him, and he was tempted to follow the fuse, but pushed the entity back again. "Are we going to make this personal, Loki?"

"I would, if you were still the inherently vapid sister that I'm used to." Loki started to walk towards her, letting Kasir and Elpis help Anya. "But you're not, simply put. I can see, especially in your eyes, that the Hela I know has been lost to that which she thought, stupidly, that she could control."

"And do you think that you could control all this power any better?" Hela walked up to meet him. "Do you think that you could handle all of this?"

"So far, I've done infinitely better than you have, or ever will," Loki shot back. His arm flew up to block a spell that Hela was about to slap him with. "You may have stronger powers, but I was better than you before this, and I'll still be better than you after."

Hela growled and kicked out, catching him in the gut with her foot. He stumbled back a step but ducked to avoid a punch thrown at him. Loki threw up a shield to catch a flurry of spells being thrown at him. He left a clone of himself behind the shield before teleporting behind Hela, but she turned to blow him backwards with a blast of power.

Elpis grabbed Hela's wrist to pull her back, hair turning into flames as she took the super powered deity on. Hela turned to grab Elpis's other wrist and started to move forward with her, backing Elpis up.

"Do you think that you can contain us again, little bird?" Hela grinned at her, showing her canines. "Did you miss us so much from the first time that we met? Do you remember th emany years we had together?"

Elpis narrowed her eyes ad forced Hela to start backing up, back towards Loki was was getting up. "I'm going to lock you up again, but this time there will be no escape. Not from curiosity, not from a fluke, not. At. All."

Hela laughed then turned and slammed Elpis into Loki suddenly. "I'd be very interested in how you plan on doing that. This body has everything I need to survive and thrive. The need for petty vengeance, the hatred and pure lust for power, why would I ever leave?"

Loki looked at her then took a breath, knowing that Tony would probably kill him for the thoughts he was having. He stood up and quickly grabbed Hela's wrist again. He dropped all his shields against the entity inside of him, let all the thoughts of hate, of those that had done wrong by him, by those that tortured him, let all the thoughts and feelings flood his consciousness.

"Loki no!" Elpis pushed herself up but found herself stopped by a barrier around Loki and Hela. "Don't do it! I can't stop you if you do this!"

Hela eyed Loki, feeling all the emotions and the dark energies that was flooding his body. Her eyes flashed and she twisted her hand to grip his wrist as well, their open palms meeting. Loki's eyes widened and he gasped as he felt the evil start to fill his mind and body. Hela started to slump but Loki held her up by her wrist. He snarled at her before using a spell to slam her back into the wall.

The barrier dropped and Elpis stared at Loki as he turned to face her. His eyes were flashing from green to black as he fought with the entities inside of him, his hands starting to shake with the power. "Loki, you're too powerful, this is too much for you. I won't be able to stop you if you don't try to fight this."

"If you can't stop us, then what will you do?" Loki's voice was lower as the evil inside of him spoke to the Phoenix in front of them. "You won't let us go willingly, not in a vessel like this one."

"I'll be forced to trap you in the Void." Loki's body stiffened at her words. "Don't make me do it, Loki, I can't let your family suffer through that loss."

He walked over to her slowly until they stood with mere inches between them. Loki's eyes flashed green and they stayed like that. "I can't hold them back for long. You need to restrain me until you can pull them from me."

"Loki, I can't pull them," Elpis frowned sadly as she told him. "They have to leave willingly, and they'll only do that if you die. They'll keep you alive if you don't die completely, and I will Not do that." Loki ground his jaw a little. "You have to forcibly expel them on your own, or conquer them."

Loki's arm twitched a little and he closed his eyes tightly, face contorting in pain. "I need to be isolated, in a place where any magic won't be able to free me."

"We have a place like that," Kasir spoke up. They looked over and saw Kasir and Anya watching them. It looked like Kasir had numbed her body from most of the pain in her body until he could get her properly healed, his arms holding her in a sitting position on the floor. "We can take you there, but we're the only ones who can remove you, and we won't be able to hear you call for us. It might be some time before we come to get you out."

"It'll work," Loki said quickly. "Take me there and get her up to Asgard to heal. Put Hela into containment immediately." He arched his back a little. "Do it so I can get this out of me."


	26. Chapter 26

**A****/N: Feel the ripples in the pond.  
**

******So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Kasir ran his hand through Anya's hair as she slept. He had been wholly unaware of how much damage Hela had actually done to her until she was in the hands of the Healers in Asgard. A broken jaw, a broken leg, two fractured fingers, and several deep gashes along her side and back.

"I was unable to see all of it, but she fought with great courage." Kasir looked up and smiled slightly at his father. Heimdall stood at the end of the bed, watching the two of them.

"Others probably think that I do a lot of work down there, because they see me when they need someone from Helheim. Really, it's because she's too busy to be able to make it." Kasir lightly tugged on a chunk of her hair. "She's got paperwork set up that helps keep things in order, and it all runs rather smoothly. I think she needs a vacation sometime."

"And let you ruin the system?" Anya mumbled tiredly, turning her head a little as she woke up. "I'm going to have enough to catch up on when I get back there as is."

"You obviously have done something to prove that she can't trust you with the paperwork." Heimdall looked at Kasir.

"I spent two weeks having to refile everything," Anya said looking at the elder Seer. "He was left alone with it for two days, and it cost me over a week of extra work." Kasir let out a huff of breath through his nose and Anya smiled. "He's better at the physical work." She reached out to pat Kasir's cheek.

"I'm glad to see that they completely repaired your jaw," Kasir said as he took her hand, kissing her palm. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, little tired, little curious as to what exactly happened."

"I believe I know what happened," Heidall told them. "But, I also fear that in the events something bigger is starting to happen, something that could not end well." The couple frowned at his words. 

* * *

Elpis sat in a corner, legs folded underneath her, hands resting in front of her, eyes shut. She had volunteered to stay with Loki, to be there to contain the entities one way or another. She ignored the constant noise of pebbles hitting the barrier around her. At least she tried to ignore it. Peeking one eye open slightly she saw several Loki's around the area they were given, one of them sitting, facing her, throwing pebbles at her.

"Doesn't this bring back fond memories of our years together?" Elpis shut her eyes again, trying to meditate to clock them out again. She could only hope that Loki worked this out soon.

Loki had let the entities experiment to create the clones of himself, noting with interest that several of them would stay with the clone. His thoughts were constantly being disrupted so he couldn't focus on any kind of plan. Loki knew, and tried his hardest to not let the others know, that as long as they kept the clones out, his power would be divided and not as strong.

If they kept their attention out in exploring just exactly how much power he had then he could try and work with that. A self made distraction. It wasn't like they had much else to do while they were all contained. It was like a room, walls were built that contained all people and energy within. It was a place where only Anya and Kasir could access, the only ones who could change it, and the only ones right now that would be able to take him and Elpis out of the room.

Glancing over opposite corner where Elpis was he saw Hela sitting with her legs crossed in front of her, kept behind a personal barrier meant just for her. It was the most secure place to put her at the time, and she would be separated from the entities should they decide that Loki wasn't fun enough. Loki was positive that wouldn't happen. Being faced with the options of either expelling and helping to contain the entities, or finding himself locked eternally in the Void, he knew what he would do. He had spent his time in the Void before, he knew the other evils that lay out there, and he would never go back.

He felt some of his magic flutter at the back of his mind and looked over to see another Clone appear. His physical body suddenly felt more like himself and he took the advantage without thinking. Loki's hands started to glow green and he held out one arm then started to draw runes with his magic on his arm quickly. He repeated the motion o his other arm as the clones started to take notice, started to feel the changes in their host.

"Don't be a fool Loki," Hela called out in a bored tone. "You can't honestly think that your runes or protection will keep them out for long."

Loki could feel the entities trying to forcibly dispel the clones, but without a host to return too they were unable to do anything. "I think that it will work well enough for the time being." He walked over to Elpis, kicking at the clone who was throwing pebbles, and tapped at her barrier. "Miss Hope, I have created an opportunity for us." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I suggest we move quickly."

"What exactly is your idea?" She pushed herself up as the barrier disappeared.

"Well, the entities have separated themselves from my physical body, using my powers," he motioned to the clones. "That leaves them vulnerable, since they don't understand how my power actually work."

"Someone with as much power as you, weakens when they create these illusions?" One of the other Loki's frowned as they listened. "You would let that happen to you?"

"It is only a weakness if your enemies know about it," Loki told them, before turning back to Elpis. "I can keep them like this, for a time, while you gather them to contain them in another container."

"And what about those still inside of you?" She raised an eyebrow but he didn't answer, just motioned for her to take care of the others. Loki's hands started to glow again as he worked a spell, giving her time to make something to hold the entities.

Although the clones couldn't connect to Loki, he still held a connection with the half dozen that occupied the room. He let his magic tingle up his arms, pushing back at the entities inside that tried to stop him, and let the spell spread out. The clones stopped moving, green eyes turning darks as they all focused on him. Loki's eyes opened and he caught their gazes, feeling the hatred rolling off of them in waves, feeding those still inside of him.

Loki grunted a little and took a breath, trying to block all the energy from overpowering him. He needed to fight this back, needed to stop it, to keep control over his capacities. He thought about getting back home, getting back to Tony and Eindride, getting back to Tomas and Sander, and back to Kaia and Emma. He wasn't done with his family, and they weren't nearly done with him, and there was nothing that would stop him from staying with them.

"Loki?" He opened his eyes and saw Elpis staring at him. He looked around and saw that all the clones were gone and Elpis was holding onto a silver box that was open, but empty. Looking up he saw all the entities circling around him, trying to break free of something. "How did you do that?" She asked softly.

"Do what?" He frowned a little and looked back at her.

"Control them like that?" Loki's blinked his eyes wide. He happened to glance over at Hela and saw that her eyes had widened, and she looked troubled. For some reason that didn't sit well with Loki. that didn't sit well at all with him.

* * *

Three woman surrounded a book, the pages turning on their own, writing changing and appearing on a whim. Sometimes the pages would stop and one of the women would reach out and touch some ink, the words either disappearing, or changing entirely. They were standing outside in a garden, a large golden tree behind them.

The woman stopped then they heard the soft, but deliberate, footsteps of someone approaching them. "Urd, Skuld, Verdandi, it's been too long." The woman looked at each other before one of them turned to look at the newcomer. He wasn't entirely welcome, but he knew that.

"We have no names for you. The wheel still turns, the water still runs, and life continues without disruption." The woman stood her ground, back straight.

"I think we all know that's not true," the man said gently as he walked closer to the Fates, and closer to their tree. "There is one out there who defies your prophecies. Tell me, has that ever happened before?" None of them answered, watching him walk to the tree. "Should that ever happen, there runs the risk of that being becoming too powerful, of unraveling all that I've built and created. I can not allow this to continue." He reached up ran his fingers across the golden leaves. "I need a name."

"We have no names for you," the woman repeated. "The wheel still-"

"You won't be keeping this name to yourself for long." He turned away from the tree and looked at the trio. "I created the concept of Fate, I created you, and I will get that name." He turned and walked back towards the shaded parts of the garden. "Keep your secrets for now, I'll get the sooner or later."

The sisters turned back to face each other when they felt him leave the garden. The books' pages fluttered before lying still again. They had agreed to keep this one secret, to keep peace in the Universe.


	27. Chapter 27

**A****/N: Feel the ripples in the pond.  
**

******So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Tony was, Eindride had decided, incapable of sitting still. They knew that it could take a little bit before anyone came back, before they got any word about what was happening, and Tony had managed to sit on the couch with Eindride and Gabby for about fifteen minutes. Bruce had gone to restock some of his first aid supplies, just in case, and somehow Eindride knew that his Uncle knew Tony would end up like this. This being pacing around the room, grabbing his pad and working on at least five different projects at once, before finally heading for the kitchen. Gabby didn't seem bothered by this at all.

Luckily they had managed to pull from Tony what exactly was happening, or at least what he knew. How he and Loki knew that Elpis was the daughter of Pandora, and how they had their suspicions that she was a walking box containing evil. He didn't apologize for not telling them what they knew, but Eindride could see how it was eating at him that Anya had become involved, and that anyone had gotten hurt.

Gabby did let out a sigh though when they smelled something burning. "Unlike Steve, Uncle Tony doesn't do stress cooking, he does stress breaking."

"Anyway we could get Uncle Steve here to cook?" Eindride leaned back into the couch. He heard JARVIS turns the fans on to try and get rid of the burning smell. Gabby let out a little snort.

"I think we should try to pull him from there before he manages to burn down the Tower," Gabby suggested before standing up.

There was some smoke coming from the sink and Tony had an annoyed expression on his face. The kitchen looked a general mess, much different from the mess that Steve had created when they were stuck in alternate Dimensions. "Dad?" Tony turned to look at the two of them. "You know, it's not really a good idea to just ruin kitchenware then buy new stuff, right?"

"I used to make your food when you were younger," Tony pointed out to his son. "I used to cook when she was a kid, for her and her brothers."

"The best you could make was pancakes," Gabby pointed out. "We still agree that you should leave the kitchen though, before you actually do some real damage. Your own twin menaces will have to start the new school year out in Malibu."

"I miss Malibu sometimes. Maybe we should move back there for a few years," Tony said, reaching for his StarkPad that was on the island. Eindride grabbed it before Tony could. "Oi!"

"You are going to drive us both crazy, you know that, right?" Eindride gave him a look. "It's like someone injected you with adrenaline, or something."

"I just need something to do, I'm a little restless right now." Toy let out a sigh, leaning against the counter for about ten seconds. "I don't know what to do."

"Why don't you take a walk to the coffee shop down the block?" Gabby suggested. "I'm sure you'll welcome the caffeine intake, and it'll give you something to do." She held up a hand before he could open his mouth. "We will call you the second that someone comes back, and I'm sure that someone will come and get you if that's not quick enough for you."

Tony puffed his cheeks out a little then let it out, letting his lips burr a little. "I'll take the twins with me, it's not too late out." Usually that would be the last thing on his mind, taking his other children out with him when they were under attack from an enemy, but that enemy was currently occupied.

Gabby and Eindride watched him walk out of the kitchen."How much happened with Hela before I was born?" Eindride looked at Gabby.

She didn't answer for a couple minutes. "You know that Hela is technically family, right?" She moved a little to look at him. "She's their sister, Uncle Loki's, Uncle Thor's, and my Dad's, that is. She's tried her hardest to kill them all at several points, and tried to kill several of us, including Kaia and Nathan."

"Yeah," Eindride said slowly. "I saw some of what she did to Dad when Kaia was still a baby. I just didn't know that she was actually, kind of, family." He made a little face at the word when referring to Hela.

"She's that family member that people try to pretend doesn't exist." Eindride snorted a little and they both smiled a little. "You know, only you aren't going to inherit anything when she dies, cause it'll take a while for her to die, so you just hope that she doesn't show up to holidays and birthdays."

Eindride looked at her for a second. "Random thought, but I'm getting the feeling you've thought about this, if you previous spiel is anything to go by. How happy are you that you don't have any in-laws to worry about?" Gabby let out a laugh and smiled at him.

"Pretty damn happy, honestly. I'm about 98% positive that Steve's parents would Not approve of me." Eindride snorted.

"They wouldn't like you, or the danger that their son would be getting into?" He corrected.

"Oh, I'm sure they would find a way to blame that on me as well. Probably say something like, I should have talked him out of becoming a national icon, and going to war, and from being a hero. You know, what all good in-laws say about their children who can do no wrong."

"I wonder what Lee's parents say about her suddenly being almost 7 months pregnant." They both looked at each and shared an evil grin, thinking about the flack that Clint would get for that. 

* * *

Tony managed to snatch the fedora off of Tomas's head and slipped on his own, smiling a little at the little outcry. He watched the twins walking in front of Tony, still talking about their time at summer camp, and didn't want to believe that they were both teenagers now. He also couldn't believe that they were so much tamer than their other three siblings. After summer camp all they had wanted was a small little family birthday party. Eindride and Elpis had gone out and gotten an ice cream cake, Kaia and Nathan had come over with a couple of crockpots of food, and Emma came back from Jotunheim with some new kinds of ice cream, and the boys couldn't have been happier, even more so that Uncle Bruce was there as well.

"Your last weekend of freedom," Tony said when he heard a lull in their conversation. "What do you guys wanna do before school starts again?" They both shrugged and Tony almost rolled his eyes. "Do you want to travel anywhere? Aren't you two taking foreign languages this year?"

"I'm taking German," Sander told him and Tony almost snorted, thinking of the first time he had seen Loki. That was a story to tell him later on. "Maybe I can Teach Viggi and Runa more commands in German, like Emma does."

"I'm gonna take French," Tomas said, walking backward a few steps to look at Tony. "I just like that language better than any other so far." He grinned and Tony saw himself, albeit a younger him, in the smile.

Although the boys were identical twins, with the exception of their eye color, Tony was able to see the differences that made everyone say that Tomas was more like Tony and Sander was more like Loki. Sander kept his longer, just above his shoulders, and it somehow worked for him. Just like Loki's long hair somehow worked for him. Tomas kept his hair on the shorter side, like Tony used to have his, taking a little more care in the morning with it when he got ready for the day. He idly wondered if Tomas was going to be the ladies man in college like he had been.

"Well, we could do a quick tour of some European cities if you wanted." Tomas jumped up a little grab the hat back from Tony as they walked into the locally owned coffee shop. There were never many people there and Tony liked that. That meant that he could go there with his family and not instantly get jumped by people who were starstruck and asking for pictures and autographs, or others trying to get a job just so they could say they worked for Tony Stark.

"Nah," the boys said in unison before going to peruse the pastry case right away. Tony was wondering where they got their calm exterior from, but then remembered that when Loki wasn't alone in the bedroom with Tony, he gave off the image of a very patient and calm man. Yes, he could easily end your life and take revenge on your family for the next ten generations without lifting a finger, but that was only if you made him upset.

Tony smiled and gave a little wave to one of the regular baristas on duty and headed over to the boys. At least he was until he heard the bell on the main door and looked back. He wasn't sure what made him want to look back, why that time when the bell rang he was suddenly interested in who was walking through the door, but it was like a magnet pull.

A woman walked in, eyes locking to his like she was on a mission. Her hair was long and dark, at least Tony thought it was, but it suddenly looked like a dark blonde. Her eyes were light colored, gleaming with something that seemed to entrance Tony. The room seemed to cool, not uncomfortably, and it felt like time was slowing down.

"Anthony Edward Stark." The woman's voice was soft as she walked over to him, lifting her hands and gently placing them on his cheeks. His eyes widened suddenly and he took a gasping breath when his mind was assaulted with images.

He saw green, soft glowing green, reminding him of Loki. He saw an older Sander, hair longer, looking down and smiling as he held onto the arms of a little girl just learning to walk. He saw himself in bed, sleeping on his back with Loki next to him, holding one of his hands while his head rested on the headboard of the bed, also asleep. He saw the waters at the Malibu mansion. Then there was one, fast image, of a man. It went by too fast for Tony to get anything from it other than the dark hair. But it was the one image that slightly unsettled him.

The woman pulled her hands back and Tony took a deep breath, backing up a step away from her. "What the hell was that!"

"That was your 'special note' from us, Anthony Edward Stark." The woman didn't smirk or smile. Tony's eyes widened a little.

"Fuck me, you're a Norn," he muttered out and ran a hand through his hair. "Why are you coming to me? Why did you show me that, and what is it supposed to mean? Should I be-" He stopped when she placed a finger over his lips.

"I can do no more than show you those glimpses of the future." She turned and started to head for the door again. "Take from them what you will. The wheel must still turn, the balance must not be upset." She walked out of the coffee shop before Tony could say anything else and the rooms temperature raised again.

"Daaaaad!" Tony jumped a little and turned when he heard Tomas's voice behind him. "Are we getting something for everyone? Does that mean we can each get two this time?" Tony blinked a little but nodded.

"Yeah, sure, just get something extra for your Dad, too." They both made little arm pumps of victory and went back to look at the pastries. Tony glanced around and noticed that everything continued as normal. No one had seen the woman, had seen one of the damned Fates walk into the shop and start talking to him. By the way that no one was looking at him oddly, they must not have heard anything. Perhaps time had stopped.

Tony didn't feel an overwhelming sense of doom from the visit or the images, and thought that maybe the Fates were letting him see that not everything in their life always ended badly, that there would be some good times. He'd tell Loki about it when he came back and everything started going back to normal. He decided to ignore the last image for now. If it were important they would have let him see it more, would have let him get actual details from it. Right now Tony needed to focus on his teenage sons that were trying to order about 6 more pastries than they actually needed.


	28. Chapter 28

**A****/N: So this is the end! And it may seem like there are a couple of unanswered things, but don't worry, I didn't forget about them. :)  
**

******So updates might be a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com  
**

**The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.**

* * *

Loki ran his hand through Tony's hair as they sat on the couch. It was late, the skies were dark and only half of the city's lights were glowing, proving that sometimes New York did sleep. Much like Tony was, and much like Loki should be doing. They had all gotten home just in time to stop Tomas and Sander from eating too many sweets while everyone else was distracted.

Kasir and Anya had gone home with Gabby to spend the night with her and Steve. It was mostly an attempt for Anya to calm her parents down, to let them see that she was alright, and to get some family time in with Iria.

Eindride had practically glued himself to Elpis's side, leaving with her not too long after sending to the twins off to get some kid of sleep. Bruce had gone to his own room as well shortly after, claiming that he didn't miss the stress that the family put him through.

That left Tony and Loki by themselves, sitting silently with each other, just basking in the little touches they gave each other. They hadn't talked about what had happened, to either of them, but they could both tell that there was something to talk about. Elpis had just informed them they wouldn't have to worry about a third Pandora's Box event, and Kasir and Anya had told them that there was no way that Hela would be able to escape her current residence. That left everyone else feeling better.

What wasn't said was that Loki had managed to overpower all the entities, at once, with just his powers.

"Thinking, yours, loud, stop." Loki blinked and glanced down at Tony's head in his lap. "Seriously, I can practically feeling the synapses firing in your brain as you think."

"You have such a sweet way with words," Loki told him, still running his fingers through Tony's hair.

"It's why you got in my bed all those years ago," Tony smirked a little and Loki pushed his shoulder a little. "My mouth can do amazing things."

"You make me wonder why I stayed with you for so long when you start stroking your own ego like this," Loki commented. Tony turned his head to look up at Loki with a grin on his face. "No, no, don't-"

"My ego isn't the only thing I can stroke right now." He laughed when Loki pushed him off of his lap. "You set that one up babe, hook, line, and sinker." He sat back up on the floor, crossing his arms on top of Loki's legs, resting his head on his arms. "Wanna tell me what has you still awake at half past three in the morning?"

"Not particularly," Loki answered, eyebrow raised in Tony's direction. "Want to tell me what happened while I was gone?"

"Not particularly," Tony parroted. "You'd tell me if it was important, right?" Loki nodded. "Good, cause I'd tell you if it was important." Loki started to run his hand through Tony's hair again. "I think our oldest son will be planning a wedding by next year." Loki snorted and Tony smirked, closing his eyes as Loki's fingers massaged his scalp. "Did you see the way they found each other when you returned?"

"He was practically speechless when he first saw her at the charity event," Loki told him. "What is it with Starks and their assistants?" Tony opened one eye to look up at him. "Is it an unwritten rule that every CEO must feel attracted to them?"

"That hurts, right here," Tony tapped his arc reactor. Loki pinched the top of his ear and Tony yelped. "Now it hurts there, owwwww."

"And to think that you were instrumental in bringing about my downfall from ruling this world." Loki let out a sigh and Tony rolled his eyes. 

* * *

Three months later Tony found himself standing on the roof, watching Tomas try and set up his homemade telescope. Homemade from some stuff that was down in his personal lab. He didn't know whether to be impressed that his 13 year old son managed to make a functioning telescope, or worried and a little upset that he had snuck into the lab and used rather dangerous tools.

"Does he knew you're up here yet?" Loki asked quietly as he walked up next to Tony. Tony shook his head. Tomas looked down into the eyepiece before making a sound of victory. "He's aware the light pollution of the city is going to give him skewed results, right?" Tony just shrugged. "you're trying not to be impressed, aren't you?"

"You know, I really am," Tony answered just as quietly. "I know that it's bad, he got into my lab, used at least the welding torch, and who knows what else, but look." Tony gestured out with his hands. "The kid made a decent looking telescope. I'm kind of proud."

"Well, it might be better than our other son." Tony glanced over at Loki, eyebrow raised. "He came home from school with an terrarium containing a lizard." Now Tony raised both eyebrows. "At least what Tomas made isn't alive."

"What kind of lizard?" Tony asked. "It's not like, gigantic is it?"

"I think he said is was some kind of dragon, water dragon?" Tony blinked once. "It was pitifully small for a dragon."

"That's because the dragons here on earth, don't breath fire, or have wings. They're just lizards, not actual dragons," Tony explained.

"Well, all I know is that he asked JARVIS to find a large terrarium accessible in the building, and then asked to place an order for live crickets." Tony made a face.

"Live crickets?" He put a hand over his mouth from the exclamation and they both looked over to see Tomas staring at them. "Why does it feel like this is probably some of the tamer stuff that these two are going to get into as they get older?"

"Because it probably is," Loki told him, snorting softly. "Alright, let's deal with this one first."

"I am Not dealing with the lizard, by the way." Tony told his husband as he headed over to Tomas. Loki rolled his eyes a little. He'd tell Tony later that Clint and Lee were coming over lunch the next day with Adria. They were mostly coming over so Clint and Lee could get some sleep, and so that Tony could babysit. As soon as the one month old was in Tony's arms he'd tell him that Anya and Kasir were expecting another child. That might stop Tony from finding Eindride and Elpis and demanding a grandchild from them.

Might. There were no guarantees. Loki smirked a little.


End file.
